


Tandem Treasures

by SkyKnight07



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Post-Hogwarts, Veela Mates, working together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:08:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28535646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyKnight07/pseuds/SkyKnight07
Summary: Assigned to go check out a recently discovered temple for the Veela Clan, Fleur finds herself working with someone she's been trying to forget for so long... Hermione Granger.It was only a matter of time before things went haywire, wasn't it?The temple ends up being not just a simple temple and now the pair find themselves mothers of two!
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Hermione Granger
Comments: 119
Kudos: 437





	1. Mission Briefing

**A/N - _Italics_ dialogue is for Veela language with a few French bits**

* * *

Fleur walked into her office at the Delacour Mansion and closed the door behind her. It was quite a spacious and well-lit room, with sunlight streaming through the ceiling-high windows that occupied the back wall, overlooking the Delacour Gardens where there were flowers blooming all year round. She tried to keep it as clean as possible but there was so much to do, as seen evident by the stack of papers strewn over the dark ebony desk. She made a beeline to the attached bathroom and rummaged through the first-aid cabinet. 

She was quite a distinguished member of her Veela Clan, next in line as heir, as well as a Veela representative and part-time Auror/Curse-Breaker at the French Ministry of Magic. Her stint as a Curse-Breaker at Gringotts in Britain had been good in terms of experience and learning. She had quite a productive day today, helping a team of French Aurors search the house of a Death Eater they had recently captured, though going through the wards hadn’t been easy. Thus the cuts on her arms and face that she was tending to with pain potion and ointments.

_Hate the magical injuries from curses that don’t heal with magie,_ she grumbled to herself as she finished applying the ointments and wrapping her wounds. It was quite a regular occurrence as such is the nature of her work.

No sooner had she exited the bathroom that she heard a knock on her door.

_“Entrez… [Come in].”_ She called out. 

The door opened to show her grand-mère, Isabelle Delacour, an imposing tall woman with straight silvery hair and kind blue eyes, a similar tint to her own. Dressed in a flowing navy silk dress with very intricate silver embroidery, it showed her position within their Clan. 

_“Bonjour Fleur, I was just informed of your return. I suppose the mission went well?”_ Isabelle asked as she walked in, taking a look at her granddaughter. A beige collared shirt, the first button undone, was tucked in khaki pants, secured by a brown belt. The shirt sleeves rolled to show the cuts on Fleur’s strong forearms. The pant legs disappeared in dark brown knee-height boots. Completing the look was an open brown suede waistcoat with shiny gold buttons. With Fleur’s blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, she looked princely, like she was off horse-riding. 

_“Bonjour grand-mère, yes everything went well, we managed to retrieve quite a lot of objects and documents that will provide information to the rest of the Death Eaters’ whereabouts,”_ replied Fleur as she smiled at the older woman. Her grandmother always made her feel warm inside. She had spent so many hours with the woman, having fun, listening to her tell stories about Veelas and their heritage. After passing her role as the Leader of the clan to her daughter Apolline Delacour years ago, Isabelle was now one of the Elders of the Clan. The Elders were the most knowledgeable group of the Clan, as it was only when you become an Elder that you get access to the restricted sections of the Infinity Library. 

_“That is good to hear,”_ replied Isabelle, _“though I apologise in advance, I asked the Ministry to take you off the case,”_ she said apologetically.

_“Quoi?![What?!]”_ replied Fleur confused and quite affronted, _“Mais pourquoi?! [But why?!]”_

_“The team will have to do without you,”_ said Isabelle as she took a seat and motioned Fleur to sit down as well, _“There is another high profile case that I need your input on. It concerns us, Veela.”_

Intrigued, Fleur sat down at her desk, facing her grandmother _“and what is it?”_ she inquired. 

_“There has been a discovery of a Veela temple in a region of England and ze wards are quite strong around it. As it was discovered in England, ze British Ministry insists it is under their jurisdiction,” Isabelle rolled her eyes at that, “but we weren’t persuaded on that. For now, to keep matters simple, we brokered a deal and they have agreed on letting just one personnel of theirs to enter the temple with one of ours who will represent both the Veela and France. That will be you. I’m not allowing the English to dig into our Veela affairs and I want to make sure one of us is there when they go through the site. I want you to oversee things until I sort this thing with the Ministry and get the temple under our jurisdiction.”_ She huffed, quite affronted at the nerve of the British. 

Fleur understood her grandmother’s concern. Veela are quite secretive, with their artefacts, culture, language, basically everything. It wouldn’t do to have English researchers just running into their temple, possibly learning about their secrets or even worse, desecrating them and selling their artefacts to stupid museums, _“Hmm… ok. When do I start?”_ she asked. 

_“Demain! [Tomorrow!] Here are the details on the location of the site. The details of your lodging are also in there. You leave at 8:30 am, a portkey will await you in the living room. Make sure it is only you and the one person who enters the temple. Don’t forget to send me regular letters of your findings,”_ explained Isabelle as she handed Fleur a file of papers. Rounding the desk, she pulled her granddaughter into her arms and kissed her forehead, _“Je t’aime, ma petite Fleur.”_

_“Je t’aime aussi, grand-mère,”_ replied Fleur, burying herself into her grandmother’s embrace. 

ᴥ

  
  


The next day came quickly. Fleur didn’t have to pack as she was used to having to be ready to go at any short notice so she always kept most things that she needed packed up in a small suitcase, well charmed with the Undetectable Extension Charm.

She found the Portkey quite easily in the morning. Their elf Minny had pointed it out to her as she descended the stairs to the living room. She touched the item and the warping feeling reminded Fleur of the time she had grabbed the Triwizard Cup that portkeyed her to the front of the maze as the winner. She was jolted out of her thoughts when her feet connected to soft grassy land and looked around to where she had landed, just north short of Kelso. The air was cold as expected of the Scottish weather and Fleur pulled her black cloak tighter around her, happy that she was more prepared for the environment this time compared to when she came for the first time for the Tournament. She was wearing her black pants with black boots, a grey shirt underneath her navy sweater and her cloak over everything. Enough layers to handle the cold of Scotland.

There were a few tents already set up, very close to what looked like an opening to an underground temple. From what she read in the report that her grandmother had left her, they were keeping this operation sort of small to not attract too much attention. 

“Ah good morning, Miss Delacour”, greeted a man, extending his arm, who Fleur recognised as the British Minister, Kingsley Shaklebolt.

“Good morning, Mr Minister,” Fleur replied, shaking his hand.

“Please, call me Kingsley. Nice meeting you again, last time we met was at the Triwizard Cup presentation” replied Kingsley, motioning for his assistant, Fleur recognised as Percy Weasley. “Percy, please show the lady to her tent so she can deposit her things. Please meet us in the main tent over there for breakfast and debriefing after you are done.” 

Fleur nodded and followed the redhead who puffed his chest as a show of self-importance as he walked her to her tent. 

“Merci Mr Weasley, I will go leave my things and meet you there,” Fleur said as she nodded to the man, not waiting for a response before disappearing into her tent, which was quite spacious inside, accommodating, a master bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen and a spare room. A few minutes later, she made her way to the Main Tent. 

As she opened the tent flaps, her eyes fell onto a head of bushy brown hair she would recognise anywhere and the rush of euphoria that erupted from her chest. She took the time to observe the brunette, dressed in a black sweater with a grey scarf wrapped around her delicate neck when she noticed the arm of Ronald Weasley so casually draped over the brunette’s shoulders. Steps faltering for a few seconds, she quickly shook herself out of the insane heat of jealousy bubbling inside her and walked in, seating herself at the main table where everyone was already seated.

The bushy brunette turned as she settled into her seat and auburn eyes widened in recognition, before narrowing. 

“Bonjour,” Fleur greeted her, steeling herself for her interaction with the brunette. 

“Fleur…” Hermione was surprised and annoyed, not sure why, to see the azure-eyed blonde in front of her, “I was not expecting you here. Last I heard you were an Auror…in France.” She said, confused.

“My input was requested in this case,” she replied, not saying any more.

The rest of breakfast was spent quietly on Fleur’s side after she said hello to everyone, while the others chatted with Hermione about her adventures with Harry Potter. The man in question walked in a few minutes after her entry, followed by Tonks and her previous colleague, Bill Weasley. Politely saying hello, she went back to concentrating on her food. 

Fleur kept her focus on her pancakes and hot chocolate, trying to avoid looking at the brunette. It had been years since she last saw Hermione physically but mentally, the brunette had been in her mind every single day. She had not expected to bump into her Chosen on her voyage to the cold dreary Scotland landscape during the Triwizard Tournament but there she had been, all bushy-haired and frowning, eyes brimming with intelligence and curiosity as Fleur had entered the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Her Veela heart had connected to Hermione in an instant and her soul had fused with the thread of the brunette’s existence. Inseparable, unbreakable, tethered for all of eternity. It had been quite a painful time for her, it was understood quite quickly as she had tried to speak to the girl a few times that Hermione didn’t like her one bit. After a few tries, she had given up and concentrated solely on the competition as she had been selected as one of the Champions. 

The paper articles about the brunette being in a relationship with Harry, then seeing her in the arms of Victor Krum at the Yule ball hadn’t helped things. She had tried to forget it all despite knowing it was impossible. The pain had been unbearable, the calling inside her ripping her apart. She had even found herself a job at Gringotts to try and stay close, despite her knowing that nothing was going to happen but yet hope never seemed to leave her. It was only after hearing about Hermione and Ron from Bill at work that she decided she had enough. The pain would be there wherever she went but at least she wouldn’t have to hear about Ron being with her Chosen all that much from France. She had packed her bags and left, heavyhearted and her spirit broken. 

Her rumination was broken when Kingsley stood up from the table, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “Hello everyone, as we all know, this site was recently discovered and has been an interest to quite a few parties,” he said eyeing Fleur, “the site is of Veela origin and as such, Miss Delacour here will be overseeing the operation.” He said, grimacing slightly at having the French overseeing a British operation.

Fleur grinned, ignoring the grumbles and protests around her. Her grandmother was probably twisting the poor Minister’s arm for this to happen.

“As it may be,” continued Kingsley, “we will still be monitoring the site, which is why I have Auror Potter and Weasley assisting on this project. There will be Auror Tonks around for back-up as we are not sure what we will find in this temple. We will also have Bill Weasley assisting as a Curse-Breaker. Now, the agreement is that only two people will be allowed inside the temple, one being Miss Delacour. We have decided that our British representative will be Miss Granger.” 

Hoots and applause rang through the people, Harry and Ron giving a hug to the brunette. The sight of the redhead’s arm around the brunette suddenly made Fleur feel sick. Maybe breakfast was a bad idea. 

After the briefing, the Minister left with his entourage. Fleur got up from her seat and turned to them, “Alright, I need a few things from my tent, meet me in front of the temple in five?”

Seeing nods from everyone, she walked out, beelining for her tent. 

ᴥ

“Man, she’s hot,” replied Ron, eyeing the blonde as she left. 

“Shut up Ron!” Hermione grimaced at his behaviour. _I can’t believe he had just said that._

“Come on, Mione. I have eyes but I’m with you, there is no need to be jealous.” Replied Ron, rolling his eyes at the brunette, “plus I was saying it for Bill’s benefit!” he continued, wiggling his eyebrows at his brother.

“I’m not jealous!” argued Hermione, “you are just being crass.”

“Whatever…” Ron murmured, before turning to Harry, “despite that, I still don’t get why she gets to oversee this operation. She’s with the French! We are on English soil! Should be us!”

“I don’t know, mate but I have no issues with it,” replied Harry, shrugging his shoulders as he got up to walk to the temple with the others.

Five minutes later, they were all assembled in front of the temple. The structure still stood tall, in the shape of a tower, slightly set below ground level so there was a descending path that led to massive stone walls, covered with moss and vines. The weathering on the cut stone bricks showed the passage of time. In the middle, stood tall stone doors, covered with engraving and inscriptions, half-hidden by the vines. 

Fleur nodded at everyone and walked into the entrance leading to the temple door, “Mr Potter and Weasley, you guys should ‘ave a look at the perimeter around the temple. Bill and Tonks, can you both have a fly-over the structure and let me know if you see anything of interest? Miss Granger and I will enter the temple. Most importantly, do not touch anything yet.” Fleur stressed, making sure to look at everyone in the eye to make sure they got the message. 

“Call me Harry, Fleur,” said Harry as he smiled at the blonde. She had always been nice to her when they bumped into each other in the corridors at Hogwarts during the Tournament. 

“Yeah and I’m Ron,” said Ron proudly, puffing his chest like a peacock on show. 

Hermione gritted her teeth at the blatant disrespect from the redhead.

“Ok,” said Bill smiling at his ex-colleague, “let’s get this show on the road” and with that said, they all dispersed to do their allocated tasks. 

  
  


Fleur walked to the temple doors, massive and heavy stone structures that would be impossible to open by hand, Hermione following her close behind. She fished out her pocket watch and flipped open the lid, keeping a close eye to the needles.

“Uh, it’s 10:32 am,” said Hermione as she eyed the blonde.

“It’s not a watch,” said Fleur, giving just a slight flick of the head to instruct her to come closer, “it’s more of a field detector, allowing me to see if there are wards and of what kind and strength” she explained as Hermione shuffled closer and peered into the device, watching as the needle bounced around, “it’s not foul-proof, doesn’t catch everything but it’s better than nothing.” 

“Oh, like the meter in GhostBusters,” said Hermione, quite intrigued at the device. 

“Ghostbusters? What’s that?” asked Fleur confused. 

“Ah..” Hermione’s face flushed in embarrassment, “don’t worry about it, Muggle reference.”

Fleur let it slide and turned her head back to the stone door in front of her. She started some complex wand movements and muttering, checking her field detector a few times until Hermione heard a loud sound of stone grinding together and the door slowly opened. To be honest, Hermione was quite impressed, having never seen these spells before. She didn’t show it though.

They walked in, Fleur carefully scanning the area, making sure there weren’t any traps while Hermione had a closer look at the inscriptions and images on the walls.

“I’ve never seen inscriptions like this before,” she whispered as she eyed them curiously.

Fleur having finished checking the area walked to her and had a look at the walls “Hmm… it’s not surprising that you have never seen them before. It’s ancient Veelan.” 

Hermione’s head turned to look at Fleur, suddenly feeling an annoyance at how close the blonde was to her. Shaking it off, she turned her attention back to the engravings, “What does it say?”

“I cannot decipher them as we don’t use those anymore. We have moved to a more modern alphabetisation for centuries now,” replied Fleur.

“Is there a way to decipher them?” asked Hermione.

“Ah oui, though only the Clan will be allowed to. The scriptures for the ancient alphabets are well guarded in the Infinity Library.” 

“Aren’t you here representing your Ministry as well? Wouldn’t they have access to it?” Hermione asked, not happy to have all the knowledge pulled away to the French side. 

“Ah non. It is not like the British Ministry. Magical creatures ‘ave their own governments and they work together with the French Ministry. There are representatives of every type in the Ministry. If something belongs to them, the Ministry is under the obligation to hand it to them. Any collaboration or sharing of knowledge, research etc has to go through negotiation between the two parties.”

Hermione was impressed, it seemed that the French Ministry were way ahead in terms of relationship with Magical Creatures. It was something she had been pushing for back in Britain and she never really thought to look across the channel to see how things were there. The British Ministry was quite disconnected from other Ministries. Then her face turned to disappointment as she realised that she might not have a chance to learn more about this temple and the inscriptions if they just handed it over to the Veela. _I guess I’ll have to put on my negotiating hat once it comes to that_ , she mused.

Concentrating back onto the inscriptions, Hermione started taking notes and snapshots as they slowly advanced deeper through the temple. 

ᴥ

A few hours later, both women walked out of the place, dusty with Fleur sporting a few new cuts from a few traps she managed to disarm just in time. 

“Are you ok?” Hermione asked as she eyed the cuts on the blonde.

“Ah, it happens all the time. Do not worry about it, Miss Granger,” replied Fleur, “I’ll go clean up. Can you tell the rest of the team we will meet for debriefing in one hour?”

“Ok and call me Hermione,” replied Hermione. Fleur hesitantly nodded and with that, Hermione watched the blonde walk away and disappear into her tent. After relaying Fleur’s message to everyone, she went to clean up in her own tent. 

One hour later, they were all gathered around a table outside the Mess Tent, lit up by the lamps outside 

“We found nothing out of ordinary around the perimeter of the temple,” relayed Ron, as he sank into a chair with a heaving plate of food, having already gone through the buffet table inside the Mess Tent.

“We found a large curious crystal right in front of the temple, hidden under the vines. If we clear up the vines, it will be visible to us from the ground,” explained Bill

Fleur nodded, “ok, let’s see to that tomorrow. The four of you will work on clearing up the vines on the crystal. The crystal needs to remain untouched, is that clear? ’Ermione and I will still trek deeper into the temple.”

After the debrief, everyone got up to go serve themselves some dinner, except Fleur and Hermione. Fleur pulled out a parchment and started writing a quick letter to her Grandmother about the temple while Hermione quietly went through the notes and photos she had taken while inside the temple. 

“I’m quite curious,” said Hermione, looking up to the French blonde, “I have noticed quite a lot of hieroglyphs that depict children. Do you have any idea what it is? I was thinking maybe this is a children school instead of a temple but then the traps wouldn’t make sense.” She murmured, trying to come up with a theory. 

“Well, I understand your hypothesis. It could be true? The traps and wards could ‘ave been set when the place was sealed. It might ‘ave been a children school before that.”

“Hmm, true… but you went to Beauxbatons. Does that mean that schooling was taken out of the Veela civilisation and outsourced in a sense?” Hermione carefully asked, not wanting to pry too much knowing Veelas are secretive but still thirsting to learn more. 

“Non, we still ‘ave schools though they do not look like that. They are more like summer schools, I guess. It is for the Veela to learn about their heritage which is not possible in a normal school,” replied Fleur, scratching her last sentence on her parchment before flicking her wand and turning it into a neatly folded letter. Tapping the tip of her wand on the letter, she watched as her neat silver wax seal appeared to seal her letter, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the pinpricks on her neck, she reached behind her and pulled a tiny blue feather and embedded it into the wax seal, under the intense observing gaze of Hermione. 

Looking up at the brunette, she brought her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly, causing the girl to jump in surprise. She smirked at the Golden girl’s reaction as the brunette righted herself and blushed in embarrassment. Hearing the loud flapping of wings, it was only a few seconds before Fleur felt a weight settling on her shoulder, with a little coo into her ear followed by a little head rubbing against her cheek. Hermione gasped at the bird on the blonde’s shoulder. It looked like a phoenix but not really, the plumage was not even close to red and gold. Its feathers were white gold, nearly the same shade as the blonde’s hair. 

“What is that?” asked Hermione as she gaped at the bird.

“Her name is Aureus, she is my phoenix.” Replied Fleur. Hearing her name, the bird turned to the brunette and made a buzzing noise as if to say hello, before turning back to Fleur and rubbing her head against Fleur’s cheek, and beeped “boop boop”. Fleur chuckled at that.

Hermione couldn’t stop herself from chuckling. “Did she just say what I think she said?”

“It is a greeting from her. We have been together since I was a baby and when I was a child, I used to say that to her when we rubbed our cheeks together.” Fleur explained, flushing slightly.

Hermione could only smile at thinking of a small blonde with a small bird ‘boop booping’ each other. 

Fleur attached the letter to the phoenix and whispered to it to give it to her grand-mère. With one last bop to Fleur’s cheek, the powerful bird thrust itself into the air and away, vanishing into the sky. 

The return of the others with their dinner broke the moment and Fleur bristled when Ron slipped beside Hermione and kissed her on the cheek.

“Mione,” he said, shovelling food into his mouth, “I don’t understand why we have different tents. Why don’t you move your things to mine?” he continued, grinning.

“No Ron, it is fine as it is,” said Hermione, turning back to her notes.

“But Mione, we are dating now!” he pushed frowning. He had been orbiting around her for years and had finally managed to get her to say yes after so many months of pursuit. Now they had been together for three months but things were going too slow for him. It made sense to him that it was time to move to the next base.

“No Ron, I would like to keep my professional and personal life separate. We are here to work,” replied Hermione, not even looking up to him. It was embarrassing that he was talking about this at the table! 

Deciding that she didn’t want to hear any of this, Fleur got up to retreat into her tent. There was no point in having dinner, her appetite was gone and she was feeling quite nauseous. 

Freshening up before slipping under her blankets, she didn’t feel sleepy yet so her mind started ruminating about the day. It had been weird to speak to Hermione, she felt like she still annoyed the woman but maybe less so? Or maybe the brunette was just being professional? She sincerely didn’t know. Being around the girl didn’t feel like her heart was in her throat anymore but the dull ache that she had gotten used to after all these years was a bit more painful than usual, especially watching her with Ron. Even now, just actively thinking about the brunette made her heart beat faster. She has gotten even more beautiful, Fleur thought. The last time she had seen Hermione, the brunette had been a teenager, a student but now, she was a woman, taller than before, body filling her clothes better, hair still lovingly bushy but shaped better, eyes still shining of intelligence and wit. Fleur dozed off, wondering what the brown eyes would look like shining with love…

ᴥᴥᴥ

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Discovery

**The Next Day**

Fleur waved her wand, muttering under her breath, this ward was unrelenting. She pushed harder only to be thrown backwards, right on her butt. How embarrassing... She thought as she saw Hermione looking at her with mirth shining in her eyes, trying to hide her laughter behind her hand. Don’t know what happened during the night but this morning, Hermione was back to being short and annoyed at her. She could literally smell it in the air. 

Getting up and dusting herself off, she walked back to the ward that was blocking the next door. As she approached, she could feel the resistance. Taking a deep breath as she tried to think of a way to go through the ward, she was surprised to feel the force envelop her. Curious, she closed her eyes and tried to feel it and feel a little tickle on her sides. Eyes shooting wide, she was unable to stop the giggle from coming out of her. Quickly stepping back out of the reach of the ward, she shot a quick glance at the brunette who was watching her confused. Not the time to get distracted. Regrouping her thoughts, she stepped back into her ward and felt it envelop her again, this time her fingers shot forward, trying to feel for it and feel she did, it was like touching jello. She wiggled her fingers only to feel the ward shake and retreat, as if… as if it was getting tickled! She laughed at the absurdity of all of it but holstered her wand and brought her other hand into the mix, feeling for the ward and tickling as much as she could. She could feel the ward shake and shake and realised that the ground was shaking too. Hermione had started to look at her like she was crazy and was getting alarmed at the building shaking around until they both heard a pop and something shimmered in front of the door before disappearing. 

Fleur tentatively reached for the door. Feeling no resistance, she pushed it, waiting for something to happen, like a trap or something. When after seconds, nothing happened, she deemed it safe and turned to the brunette. 

“What was that?” 

“I ‘ave no idea” replied Fleur, amused. 

Slowly walking into the next room, they found themselves in a massive hall with high ceilings supported by thick pillars. Every inch of the pillars and walls seemed to be engraved with Veelan scriptures and images, painted in vivid colours. 

“Wow” whispered Hermione as she took it all in, it was all magnificent. She walked forward till she was facing some sort of altar. The wall behind the altar was what was most fascinating, depicting two cherubs flying together, light blue wings spread wide. On closer inspection, she could see smaller paintings of cherubs on most walls and pillars, in all sorts of different positions, playing, flying, eating, crawling, sleeping, smiling, you name it, “there are a lot of images of kids here. Do you have any idea what it means?” she asked, turning to the blonde who was inspecting the walls the same way. 

“Hmm…,” said Fleur frowning as she walked closer to the altar, trying to decipher what the images meant, “Veela ‘ave quite a big maternal instinct. Children are considered the joy of life. ‘Aving a child is the cause of the second greatest celebration in Veela culture, to this day. Maybe this is a celebration of it?” she mused, as she pressed her fingers against one painting of a smiling child, engraved on the altar. The images reminded her of what it looked like when the Clans came together and all the children were unleashed, it was mayhem and joy. Fleur had loved it when she was a child, loved it when she was a teenager looking after her little sister and still loved it now with all her little cousins, nieces and nephews. 

“Second? And that many?!” asked Hermione as she approached the blonde, to get a better look at the painting she was looking at. 

“First for Veela ‘as been and will always be love, ‘Ermione.” Fleur whispered before quickly changing the subject, “Ah, the children are not from just one family, oui? Veela are creatures of packs. Family means everything, Clans are family.” replied Fleur, hesitating for a second, wondering if she was revealing too much. 

So engrossed in what Fleur was saying and the painting she was touching, Hermione missed a brick on the floor, tripping. She tipped forward, taking the blonde with her as they both fell onto the altar. A bell sounded, resonating in the air and shaking the temple. Quickly trying to get up, she felt like she couldn’t move. Panicked eyes looked at Fleur to realise that the blonde couldn’t move either. Before she could say anything, they were both out cold. 

ᴥ

Harry, Ron, Tonks and Bill were all situated on the roof of the temple, they had been spending the morning removing the vines from the crystal. They were nearly done when they were all started as the remaining vines disintegrated as the crystal shone bright blue, blinding them all.

“Ahh, my eyes!” cried Ron. 

“Shit, what the fuck happened?” Tonks said, blinking, trying to regain her eyesight. 

No sooner had she asked the question, that the temple started shaking. 

“Get to your brooms,” Bill shouted, reaching for his brother and calling his broom. They all had managed to scramble to their brooms and into the air, worried that the temple was going to cave in from underneath them. Bill pointed at them to follow as he flew to the ground

Soon, they were all on stable ground and looked at the temple, still shaking, sending dust up and bricks tumbling down. 

“Hermione and Fleur are still in there,” said Harry as he tried to get to the door only to be thrown back by some invisible force. 

“Wards?! No way, Fleur would have disabled them!” said Bill as he tried to feel for the ward and disable it. No sooner had he pulled his wand out that the temple stopped shaking and he no longer felt the ward. Taking a step forward, he felt no resistance. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening. Tonks, with me, everyone else follows behind.” He instructed as he moved slowly into the temple. 

They managed to reach the main hall quite easily, without any traps or wards, which was curious to Bill. They found Fleur and Hermione unconscious on the altar and didn’t bother hanging around, quickly levitating both witches out of the building. 

ᴥ

Fleur woke up with a headache. She tried to remember what happened but her thoughts were fuzzy. Slowly opening her eyes, she realised she was in a tent, definitely not her tent. 

“Ah you are awake,” Tonks said, smiling, pouring the blonde a glass of water “You guys gave us quite a scare.”

“Merci,” Sipping her water slowly, Fleur asked, “What happened?”

“Don’t really know. One minute, we were close to clearing the vines of the crystal, then the next minute, it’s glowing, blinding us all and the temple started shaking. We got off it quickly and went looking for you and Hermione only to find you both unconscious inside.”

“’Ermione!” Fleur realised, nearly spilling her water, “is she ok?!”

“Yeah, she is right there,” Tonks pointed at another bed a few metres away, eyeing the blonde curiously. She is still unconscious. We ran some diagnostic spells on both of you, nothing came up. You were both just unconscious.”

Speaking of the devil, Hermione started to groan as she stirred awake. Looking around, she found Fleur and Tonks looking at her, “what happened?” 

“Crystal glowing, temple shaking, went inside, found you guys unconscious” summarised Tonks. 

“Oh no!” Hermione sat up, turning to the blonde, “I’m sorry Fleur! I tripped and it seemed to have activated some kind of trap and we were both stuck then I must have fallen unconscious.”

“Do not worry ‘Ermione, no ‘arm done, I do not believe that the temple is dangerous.”

The tent flaps opened and in walked Harry, Ron and Bill.

“I see you guys are awake,” said Bill as he watched Harry and Ron go check Hermione, “What happened in there, Fleur?” he asked, tone a bit accusatory. She was a well-trained curse-breaker and he respected that but she had also put Hermione in danger. 

“Yeah, what happened in there?!” repeated Ron angrily, getting up to glare at the blonde, “you were supposed to be the French representative that made sure everything went smoothly. Hermione could have been hurt!”

“Ron!” shouted Hermione, “Stop that! It was my fault. I tripped on some kind of trap”. Despite how much the blonde annoyed her, she wasn’t going to let her friends blame her when she was innocent. 

“The whole point of her being chosen to be there was because she could disable such traps, Mione” huffed Ron, sending another glare at the blonde. 

Fleur had enough, her heart was still beating hard from worrying about Hermione and now this. Taking a deep breath, she got up from the bed, “I apologise, I must have missed that one trap” she replied, eyeing Bill and Ron before walking out. 

“Missed,” Ron huffed again, “she must suck at her job.”

“Ron! Stop it!” replied Hermione angrily, trying to get out the bed and go find the blonde to apologise. 

“No Hermione, you ain’t going anywhere. You are to stay in bed until we make sure you get proper rest and are ok,” instructed Bill in a tone that left no room for argument. 

ᴥ

Fleur was walking towards her tent only to change her mind at the last minute, making a beeline for the forest surrounding the site. The sun had already set and the moon was up, casting a silvery glow to everything. She followed a small trail deep into the forest until she found a small clearing. Sitting on the damp grass, she rested her back against one of the trees. Any other time, she would have found the little wildflowers growing all over the place beautiful, especially in the moonlight but there was too much on her mind. She had been careless, she should have been more vigilant, maybe she would have caught Hermione before she fell. It was eating her that her carelessness could have endangered Hermione. Her nerves were frazzled just thinking about it. So lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realise that she had spent nearly two hours in the woods. 

_Non, this won’t do… I need to calm down…_ Shuffling herself into the middle of the clearing, she pulled her wand and conjured her silver flute. Music was a big thing to Veelas, they loved to sing, play and dance. She was lucky that her grandpapa was an instrument maker. She had spent hours with him, learning to make all sorts of instruments and how to play them. Putting the instrument to her lips, she started playing one of her own written tunes. The trees and flowers leaned into the noise, fireflies and fairies came out of the bushes, enticed by the noise but the blonde was too lost in her playing, she noticed nothing.

ᴥ

Hermione had managed to retreat into her own tent, after the boys had gone overboard with pampering her, serving her dinner in bed and all. She was happy that they cared but wanted some peace and quiet and was still a bit annoyed at Ron for his treatment of Fleur. To be fair, she wondered if she had the right to be annoyed at him, she herself hadn’t treated the blonde well. It all started when the blonde came to Hogwarts, she had been angry to see Ron drool after the French. 

Moving to her bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. Throwing some water onto her face, she opened the small window to let some cool air in. Her ears perked up as she heard music. Curious, she quickly wiped her face and went outside. 

The other tents were dark, showing that everyone was most probably asleep. Trying to pinpoint where the music was coming from, she listened carefully. The forest, she realised. She carefully trekked into the bushes, following the sound, being careful to be as silent as possible. When she reached the clearing, she definitely wasn’t expecting the scene in front of her. Basked in moonlight, Fleur was playing a silvery flute, her hair making it look like she was shining, fireflies and fairies were floating and dancing a circle in the air around her. She shuffled behind a tree so as not to be seen and observed. The trees seemed to be leaning into the music, branches swinging in tune, together with the grass and wildflowers as if all dancing together. She watched as the blonde pulled away and flicked her wand at it. The flute floated next to her, the tune kept playing. 

She was definitely not expecting the husky voice that followed. 

It was short, just a verse maybe but Hermione couldn’t understand the words. Fleur’s voice though was beautiful and filled with painful longing. Suddenly feeling like she was encroaching on a private moment, the brunette retreated back out of the forest. As she reached her tent and settled into her bed, Hermione wondered what it was that Fleur Delacour, the Fleur Delacour, the desire of everyone walking on the planet, Triwizard Champion, could be longing for. 

ᴥ

  
  


“What do you mean, we cannot enter?” asked Fleur looking impatiently at Bill for an answer. She had had quite a long and restless night, she was tired and so not ready for nonsense this morning. 

“After we retrieved your guys from the temple, I have tried going in again and I’m thrown out every single time,” explained Bill, frustrated. 

“I disabled every ward,” explained Fleur, not understanding

“Well, see for yourself,” motioned Bill, pointing towards the temple.

True to his words, Fleur couldn’t enter. She tried to disable whatever was blocking her from going in but nothing worked. 

“I tried everything, I’ve been at it for hours, nothing has worked.” Bill explained as he joined his ex-colleague in front of the stone door, “the crystal is still shining brightly” he said as he pointed to the aforementioned object. 

Hermione, Harry, Ron and Tonks looked at the two from a short distance. 

Fleur turned to the four, “it seems we ‘ave a problem. It might be best that you all take a break today while Beel and I try to figure this out.” She turned to her ex-colleague to check for his agreement. 

“Yeah, maybe two people might make a difference,” replied Bill, shrugging. It didn’t hurt to try. 

  
  


It was after five hours and no progress that Fleur decided to call it a day for her and Bill. The redhead didn’t wait for her to tell him twice, disappearing into his tent to get cleaned up. 

She wondered what Hermione had done for the day. She had noticed Harry and Ron flying on the brooms playing a small game of catch with a Quaffle earlier and now they both seemed to be seated just outside the Mess tent, engrossed in a game of Wizarding Chess. She decided to freshen up and go find some food. 

One hour later, Fleur said hi as she passed the boys still full-on in their Chess game, on her way into the Mess Tent. Walking inside, she found Hermione bent over notes, splayed all over the desk, a steaming cup of tea next to her. Hearing someone entering, the brunette looked up, amber eyes falling on Fleur.

“’Ello,” greeted Fleur, walking to the food table and dishing some onto a clean plate and grabbing herself a cup of hot chocolate. 

“Hi, Fleur. Any progress?” asked Hermione. She had decided to spend her time going through her notes and photos to see if there was anything she could find that could open the temple again.

“Unfortunately, non,” replied Fleur as she seated herself across the brown-eyed woman. Putting her plate down, she looked up to address the brunette, “I would like to formally apologise for what ‘appened yesterday. I should ‘ave been more vigilant.”

“Fleur, it wasn’t your fault,” replied Hermione.

“Be as it may, I would still like to apologise. I’m sorry.” 

Hermione just hesitantly nodded, not sure what else to say. She tried to go back to her notes to fill the awkward silence that settled between them, occasionally checking the blonde with an inconspicuous side glance. 

Finishing her food, the French banished her plate and stood up, “Bonne nuit, ‘Ermione.”

“Goodnight,” replied Hermione, watching her leave. 

ᴥ

  
  


The next morning, Fleur had just finished getting ready for the day when she heard Bill calling her name from outside. Quickly shuffling to the tent flap, she pushed it open and stepped outside, “Beel? What is it?”

The redhead pointed out at the crystal, “it stopped glowing!” 

True to his word, the crystal had stopped glowing. Fleur eyed it curiously as she started walking towards the temple, the redhead following her closely behind. 

“Fleur, what is happening?” Hermione asked, having exited her own tent when she heard Bill calling for Fleur. 

“I’m not sure. I’m going to check it out” replied Fleur as she kept walking to the temple’s stone doors. Hermione decided to follow as well.

As they reached the door, Fleur felt nothing resisting her back. The wards that had been there yesterday were gone. At this point, she realised that Tonks, Harry and Ron had joined them.

She pulled her wand and flicked the stone doors open, waiting a few seconds to see if anything happened, but no, complete stillness, “I am going inside. You all stay here in case we need a second extraction.”

“I’m coming with,” Hermione said.

“No, there is no need,” replied Fleur but Hermione would have none of it. 

“I’m not taking no for an answer,” said Hermione, giving a glare to Fleur. 

“Maybe we should accompany you as well,” intoned Ron, not wanting Hermione to go by herself.

“No, this is a Veela temple and I ‘ave felt that it means no ‘arm. But I would like to take the precautions and ‘ave you four at least ‘ere in case something ‘appens,” Fleur’s voice left space for no debate. Turning to Hermione, she instructed, “stay behind me,” and with that, she turned around and walked into the temple. 

ᴥ

Fleur was finding it curious. There was nothing, no wards. Their trek deeper into the temple felt like it had before all this mess started, when she had basically disabled everything. Things were not making sense. Soon both women found themselves in front of the door of the Main Hall. 

“That was a bit too easy, wasn’t it?” said Hermione, clutching her wand as she mulled over how easy it was to get to the Main Hall when just yesterday they couldn’t even get inside the temple. She moved closer to Fleur as the blonde pushed the door open slowly.

The first thing the girls noticed was the gold light that fell onto them as the door opened. Slowly, moving forward, both women audibly gasped at the scene in front of them.

The altar was surrounded by a large transparent bubble, shimmering in gold but their shock came from what was floating inside. Two bodies. 

Fleur felt herself sprint forward before she could think of anything. As she approached the bubble, she tried to sense if it was dangerous before managing to make it disappear with a flick of her wand. The disruption of the bubble broke the magic that was keeping the bodies floating in the air and they came tumbling down but Fleur barely registered her fast movements as she caught them. Two small bodies. Children. 

ᴥᴥᴥ

  
  



	3. Familiar Features

Hermione didn’t waste any time in quickly grabbing one of the toddlers from Fleur’s arms so the blonde could carry the other one more easily. 

“What are kids doing here?!” she whispered to the blonde, as she checked the tiny blonde in her arms. She had been scared that the child was dead but was massively relieved to see her chest rise and fall. She looked like she was just sleeping. She quickly performed some diagnostic spells on the tiny body to see if there was any injury. 

“I do not know, ‘Ermione,” replied Fleur as she checked the little brunette in her arms, performing her own diagnostic spells as well, “she seems to be alright, no injury. Just sleeping.”

“Same here,” replied Hermione, just totally perplexed as to what happened. 

“We should take them outside and check them thoroughly,” said the French blonde as she got up, walking towards the door with the little brunette securely in her arms. Hermione followed her without thought. 

As they exited the temple, they were met with surprised eyes from Tonks, Ron, Harry and Bill but they barely had time to ask any question as the two women powered on to the Healer’s tent they had been in themselves just yesterday. 

They both deposited the little girls onto one single bed and started performing more complex diagnostic spells to see if there was anything wrong with the girls. Fleur found nothing, which was relieving. She couldn’t understand how the children had gotten in there. The temple had been inaccessible due to the wards. Had the crystal stopped glowing during the night, causing the wards to disappear and someone sneaked in children in there? But why? The girls looked to be around two to three years old. 

“She is all ok,” replied Hermione as she finished her own checkup. “How did these kids get in there?”

“I’m not sure, ‘Ermione. We couldn’t get inside ourselves,” replied Fleur, now kinda staring at the blonde toddler. Something felt familiar, the Veela was feeling some strange kind of emotion bubbling inside her and she wasn’t sure what it was or if it was even connected to this event or just Hermione’s presence. 

As soon as she finished saying her sentence, both witches noticed that the children started stirring. Maybe they could ask who their parents are once they woke up.

The little brunette opened her eyes first, blinking sleepily not noticing the two witches watching her. What she did notice though was the little blonde by her side and she sat up to shake her awake, “Floria, reveille toi!” [Floria, wake up]. To say the witches were surprised to hear the children speak French was an understatement, they were in Britain after all. 

“They’re French,” whispered Hermione to Fleur, eyes still fixed on the tiny brunette waking up ‘Floria’.

The small blonde frowned, “Let me sleep, Athena!” she grumbled but sat up as Athena wouldn’t stop shaking her. It took only a few seconds for both children to notice the witches looking over them and their eyes widened and faces broke into grins as they recognised the women's faces.

“Maman!” cried Athena, jumping from the bed into Fleur’s arms, who looked at Hermione flabbergasted. Hermione herself had barely time to register Fleur’s face before she had a little blonde in her arms, “Mum!” cried Floria as she hugged the bushy-haired witch tightly. 

“What?!” shouted Ron, Harry, Tonks and Bill who had been standing at the tent entrance. 

ᴥ

After both witches kicked the other foursome out of the tent when the toddlers started crying after their outburst, they sat the toddlers back on the bed and settled in front of them. 

“Ok, you little ones are probably confused. Hello, my name is Hermione. What are yours?” Hermione asked, despite knowing their answers. It was just to make the toddlers comfortable. 

“Mum!” frowned Athena, brown eyes squinting, “how you not know I and sis names!” she gestured between Floria and her with her little hands, “Maman! Mum being weird!”

The penny was dropping for Fleur and she was having a hard time not hyperventilating. The blue eyes on the little blonde, the silvery blonde hair, the auburn eyes on the little brunette, the bushy-hair, both calling Hermione and her their mothers. The Veela was finally understanding the emotions she had been feeling earlier, it wasn’t about Hermione, not at all. Her Veela had instantly recognised her children. _Gosh! How did this happen? How do I explain it to 'Ermione?!_

Hermione on the other hand was super confused, sure there was kind of an uncanny resemblance between her and the little brunette and now that she looked closely, the small blonde did resemble Fleur a lot, especially the blue eyes but that was probably coincidence. And the kids calling them both their mother? Not sure about Fleur but she definitely hadn’t had a kid. She is 100% sure she would have remembered. Turning to Fleur to see if the blonde could provide some explanation, she was alarmed to find her white as a sheet. Her eyes widened as she tentatively asked, “Fleur? Are these your kids?” She felt something burn in her stomach at the thought of Fleur having kids with… some… someone.

Fleur kept her eyes on the toddlers, trying not to faint and croaked, “Minny…Minny!” hoping to God that the elf heard her.

Sure enough, a pop was heard and her house-elf was in front of her. “Mademoiselle Fleur? Est-ce que ça va? [Miss Fleur? Are you ok?]” the little elf asked hesitantly. Her mademoiselle didn’t look so good. 

“Get Grand-mere, it is an emergency” she whispered, eyes still locked on the children. Only a pop alerted her that the elf had gone to get Isabelle. 

“Fleur?” asked Hermione, trying to get an answer from Fleur but no word came out of the blonde. 

Another pop sounded and Hermione watched as an older copy of Fleur apparated with the little elf, concern and worry apparent on her face.

_“Fleur? Ma cheri? What happened?”_ asked Isabelle, quickly kneeling to where her granddaughter was seated. 

The blonde could only shakily point at the toddlers. Confused, Isabelle turned and layed eyes on two sets of eyes, one azure and one auburn looking at her curiously and gasped because if the feeling she just had in her chest was right, she was a great grandmother. “Mon Dieu! [My God!]” 

Athena, who was proving to be quite a curious child, shuffled off the bed and walked closer to the matriarch, “you look like Maman!” she stated, nodding at her observation, “but old!”

Floria, not one to leave her sister by herself, got off the bed as well and looked at Isabelle with her piercing blue-eyes, studying her as if mulling Athena’s statement for a few seconds before saying “Oui, c’est vrai. [Yes, it’s true.]”

“Maman??” whispered Isabelle, having trouble processing the words coming out of the bébés’ mouths.

ᴥ

Hermione wasn’t sure what was happening. One minute she was asking Fleur if she had kids she didn’t remember having because there hadn’t been recognition on the blonde’s face when they saw the toddlers in the temple. Then there was an elf and then an older copy of Fleur appeared like magic which made her realise that Fleur would definitely age nicely….Uhh, back to the topic, she realised from the little words she knew in French (because they were close to the English equivalent) that the older woman was Fleur’s grandmother. Then she looked quite shocked too, at the presence of toddlers. So not only Fleur didn’t remember having kids, she also didn’t tell her family, it seems. Now here she was, in a different section of the Healer tent with the two French women while Tonks had been roped into babysitting. 

“Miss Granger?” Hermione looked up to the matriarch as she was addressed, “I am Isabelle Delacour, could you please explain to me what ‘appened ‘ere?”

And Fleur was still not talking, it would seem.

“I’m unsure what to explain. We went inside the temple two days ago, managed to get to the Main Chamber, with inscriptions, an altar and all. In inspecting some of the inscriptions, I tripped and took Fleur with me, we fell on the altar and passed out. The temple started shaking and the crystal started glowing. I probably activated a ward or trap or something. The others came to check on us and saw us unconscious and retrieved us. We were unharmed. The next day, Fleur tried to enter the temple but there were unbreakable wards in place. Today, Bill came calling, telling her that the crystal had stopped glowing. They went to investigate and found the unbreakable wards gone. We both went in and there were no wards stopping us at all. We reached the main chamber and the two little girls were floating over the altar, encased in a glowing golden transparent bubble. Fleur managed to dissipate the bubble which made the girls tumble down and she caught them. We brought them here and checked them for injuries and they were all ok, just sleeping. Then they woke up and started calling Fleur and I, their mums, I thought they were confused, maybe the shock of being in a random place, kidnapped, I don’t know and then Fleur went white as a sheet. 

Isabelle nodded and replied, “Would you mind accompanying me to this temple? I think Fleur needs a moment.” 

Hermione nodded and followed the older blonde out of the tent, sending a worried glance at Fleur, standing stiff, eyes lost in thought. 

ᴥ

Isabelle sighed as she saw the temple. She had an inkling as to what happened. Going in, the inscriptions only further cemented her conclusion. 

“I was definitely not expecting zhis.” She whispered, tracing the images of cherubs on the walls. 

“What exactly is it?” asked Hermione, starting to get annoyed at not knowing anything at all about this situation.

“Zhis, Miss Granger, iz a fertility temple and might be ze only one still accessible.”

“Oh and what is exactly a fertility temple? What is that altar for?” asked Hermione

“It iz for Veela to ‘ave bébés back in ze very very old times.” She replied, smiling now suddenly realising that she had not one but two great-granddaughters and she was feeling quite, how do the English say, chuffed, “zhough it iz not needed anymore as ze Veela ‘ave evolved to be able to handle zheir own reproduction wiz zheir bodies now.”

“Uhhh ok,” Hermione felt a weird feeling in her stomach at the conversation, not knowing where exactly it was heading.

“See, ze Veela and ‘er mate would be set on ze altar and ze Ancient Veela magic embedded in ze temple would conceive a baby for zhem.”

“A baby?!” squeaked Hermione, now realising that Fleur and her were the only people who ended up on that altar, for centuries.

“Yes, now two babies iz a feat. It’s a bit rare like having twins!” she grinned, clapping her hands, “Though you both ended up wiz toddlers, which is a concern and might be due to ze interruption coming from your friends taking you both out of ze chamber before the magie had completed its work. I’m not sure how zhat will affect the girls developmentally so we will need to keep an eye on zhem.” 

Hermione could feel her mouth moving but no words came out of them, barely hearing anything after Isabelle said ‘twins’. _Floria and Athena are my children with Fleur_ was the last thought she remembered before darkness filled her vision. 

ᴥ

Now Fleur was still to some extent frozen but seeing her grandmother levitating an unconscious Hermione onto one of the beds snapped her out of her stupor.

_“What happened?!”_ asked Fleur, as she jumped to her feet and approached her bushy-haired mate. 

_“She is ok, just fell unconscious when I explained to her what happened,”_ replied Isabelle.

_“So it’s true…”_ Fleur whispered, _“they are…my…my babies? How?”_

Isabelle took her granddaughter into her arms, _“Yes, Ma Fleur. They are your babies. I wouldn’t have sent anyone here to check this temple if I had known but this is one of the last standing fertility temples. Tripping onto the altar started the process. Miraculously, you both had non-identical twins! I am worried though as you didn’t end up with babies but toddlers instead. I believe it is due to the interruption as your friends took you both out of the temple.”_

_“What does that mean?? Are they ok? Will they be ok?”_ asked Fleur, worry thick in her voice. _My babies…_ She felt a huge wave of protectiveness wash over her. 

_“Oui, ma petite. I will make sure of it but we will have to keep them under observation at the Mansion for a bit. I can hear the worry in your voice so I’m pretty sure your instincts have awakened but I still need to ask, Fleur. Will you take responsibility for these children and now your mate? Because even if Hermione doesn’t accept you, you now have a different connection as she is the mother of your children,”_ asked Isabelle, already knowing the answer.

_“I’d give my life for all of them,”_ replied Fleur with conviction, eyes watching as the two toddlers had gotten away from Tonks and climbed the bed before snuggling into the unconscious Hermione, falling asleep in a matter of minutes.

_“They are precious, ma Fleur, all three of them. You made beautiful bébés.”_

Fleur heard her grandmother but couldn’t tear her eyes from what was now the three most important persons in her whole universe. 

ᴥ

Hermione slowly blinked, her eyes opened, wondering where she was. Feeling weights on her chest, she peered down to see two little heads full of hair resting on her chest and realised that it was Floria and Athena. She could hear their small breaths as they slumbered, curled up against her side and Hermione’s arms automatically went to wrap around them both. She remembered everything the Delacour matriarch had explained to her and realised she must have fainted. _They are mine… my children… Gosh, I wasn’t even thinking of having kids anytime soon but now that they are here, I can’t help but love them,_ thought Hermione, pulling the two small bodies tighter against her, _Athena… Goddess of Wisdom and another name for Minerva,_ she thought as she recalled her favourite teacher at Hogwarts, _it fits_ . _Floria, means blooming, fitting for a little Fleur_. Hermione smiled as she realised, even their names reflected Fleur and herself.

She was shaken out of her thoughts where she spied Fleur sitting beside her bed, keeping vigil. 

“Hey,” she whispered to the blonde, not wanting to wake the little tykes. 

“’Ey…” Fleur replied, “’ow you feeling?”

“I feel ok, it is just a shock I guess? I wasn’t expecting to have children so soon and I didn’t even get nine months to prepare for it.”

“I understand,” Fleur sighed, “I will accept whatever decision you take.” 

“What do you mean?” Hermione frowned, not sure what the French woman was trying to say.

“If…if you do not want them, you don’t ‘ave to worry, I will take care of them,” whispered Fleur sadly. 

“No!” spat Hermione, trying to keep her voice as low as she could but still conveying all her anger in her tone, “how dare you? They are my children too! And I know I’ve only known about them for one day but I love them already!”

“I’m sorry, ‘Ermione,” Fleur replied, “I didn’t mean to ‘urt you. I just…” she trailed off, not knowing how to explain. 

“I want them, Fleur.” Hermione said, with a tone of finality. 

“Ok, ok. I want them too ‘Ermione. How is this going to work? They ‘ave to come to France wiz me.” 

“What? Why? Seems to me they were born here in Britain,” protested Hermione, arms tightening even further around the toddlers. They looked so innocent.

“Mon amie, I mean no ‘arm,” explained Fleur as she placed her hand on the hand Hermione was using to hold Athena, “but my grandmère is concerned about them being toddlers instead of bébés because we were pulled out of the temple early. All this is due to Veela magic, they,” Fleur pointing at the two toddlers, “are Veela. She would like to keep them under observation to make sure they are all ok. It is safer in my ‘ome, closer to the Veela Clan, where there is no restriction to Veela magic. ‘Ere, they ‘ave to be registered, non? As creatures?”

A ball of fury started developing inside Hermione’s chest at the thought of the British Ministry treating her children like that and despite everything, she wanted them safe, and if safe meant in France, she would let them go to France. God, if safe meant at the end of the world, she would go to the end of the world. She was surprised at the maternal instinct that had awakened in her. 

“You are right…” Hermione sighed, lifting her eyes from the toddlers to look into the azure orbs of the French blonde, “but I’m coming too and you are not stopping me.”

Fleur stared at the piercing auburn gaze and smiled at her, “my ‘ome is open to you ‘Ermione, always. I would never ever keep you from them.” She said vehemently, “I just understand that this is all complicated with you as you live ‘ere, you work ‘ere, and Ron is ‘ere.” She nearly spat that last bit out but managed to sound neutral. 

“Well Fleur, it seems like life is changing.” 

ᴥᴥᴥ

  
  
  



	4. Four In Total

Isabelle had gone back to France to prepare for their arrival. She had sealed the temple again first to make sure there were no mishaps and told them not to worry about it as due to the circumstances, she would have it in Veela jurisdiction by tomorrow. She would make sure that everything went smoothly to minimise the stress on the new parents and their children. 

Explaining all the happenings to the rest on the other hand, didn’t go smoothly. Here was Hermione, currently in the Mess Tent, surrounded by Harry, Ron, Bill and Tonks. 

“What do you mean, they are your kids with Fleur?!” bellowed Ron, face red.

Hermione was happy she had left the kids sleeping on her bed, Fleur keeping an eye on them instead of bringing them along.

“It is exactly what I am saying, Ronald. I have already explained how the temple worked and what happened. Which part of that do you not understand?!” she snapped.

“Come on Mione, you are not sure that they are your kids. Kids don’t pop out in a day. What if they are dangerous? You don’t even know what they are. We need to make sure we take them to the ministry so they can check-” replied Ron.

“No,” Hermione interrupted him, “You are not even coming close to them, Ronald or I’ll blast you to hell,” she spat venomously. 

“Ron please,” said Harry, trying to defuse the situation, “Hermione, I understand what you are saying but what is the need for them and you to go to France?”

“They are also Fleur’s children, they are Veela and the children were born out of Veela magic. So they want to make sure everything is okay, being close to their Veela Clan makes it easier and I agree. I even asked her grandmother about it before she apparated back to France and she confirmed what Fleur said.” Hermione explained.

“And that’s it?! You are just gonna listen to two French Veelas who we know nothing about and up and move to France? What about us?” asked Ron angrily. _What the hell is she thinking?!_

“Yes. I will still drop by London regularly. There are more important matters at hand right now, Ronald. I will owl you.” 

“We are here for you, Hermione,” replied Harry, smiling, “Just don’t forget to owl us to keep us informed and let us know when things are all good for us to visit and maybe organise for you to come back.” 

“Oh Harry, thank you,” replied Hermione, giving him a hug.

Ron spluttered, “Excuse me, but I cannot just allow my girlfriend to just move to another country just like that! Over two kids who came out of nowhere no less!” he spat.

“I don’t need your permission, Ronald!” replied Hermione, having enough of this conversation, “I have already sent an owl to Kingsley to put on indefinite leave due to family emergency and request the option to work remotely. I will be apparating to France with Fleur, Floria and Athena once we are done with this conversation, which is about now.” 

“Ok, just take care of things and keep us informed, will you?” added Bill, “I’ll let mum and the others know.”

“Yeah, and if you need a babysitter again, let me know,” said Tonks, “they are both cuties!”

“Thank you” Hermione gave them both a tight hug in gratitude. 

“Are you all barking mad?!” Ron exclaimed, furious.

“Stop Ron!” shouted Harry, angry at his friend, “Go Hermione. We’ll deal with things here.”

Hermione didn’t wait for him to say it again, walking out of the Mess Tent despite still hearing Ron ranting and asking her to reconsider. 

ᴥ

Hermione had just finished packing all of her stuff in her tent into her suitcase when she heard heavy footsteps from outside. Turning around, she watched as the tent flaps were thrown aside and an angry red-faced Ron barged in. 

“You’re really just going to leave like this?!” the red-head asked furiously. 

“I told you I was done with this conversation, Ron,” replied Hermione, bringing her hand to massage her forehead as she felt the start of a headache settle between her brows.

“No. No, I’m not done talking. You cannot just move to France, Hermione. For some random kids on top of that! We don’t even know who they are and if they are dangerous. Kids don’t pop out of thin air! We don’t even know what that temple is, it’s dangerous! We had to pull you out of it unconscious!” 

“I have already explained to you, Ron. Fleur’s grandmother has explained it all to me,” Hermione replied calmly. She just wanted to get this over with, so she could leave. She still had to drop by her apartment to grab a few more things. 

“And you are just going to listen to a random old hag who came out of nowhere? A Veela no less! You know what their thrall does to people’s heads. Is that what has happened to you? The thrall!? Of course! Fleur’s Grandmother would be a full Veela! I can take you to St Mungo's to get checked,” finished Ron, reaching for Hermione’s hand to drag her.

Taking a step back out of his reach, Hermione glared at her boyfriend, “No! I haven’t been affected by any thrall of any sort, Ronald.”

“Then how do you explain this behaviour of yours? You are moving to France on a whim!” he sputtered, befuddled at her behaviour. Exasperated, he ran his hand through his hair, “look, I was going to ask you this after this job but right now will have to do. Move in with me?” 

Hermione’s face morphed into shock as the tent descended into silence, Ron looking expectantly at her. No one heard the footsteps shuffling away from the tent, no one saw the blue-eyes that shimmered with unshed tears, reacting to things she hadn’t meant to hear but heard notwithstanding. Had she lingered a moment more, she would have heard Hermione’s resolute answer. 

“No”

ᴥ

Hermione had quickly dropped to her apartment in London to pack some extras before apparating back to the site. Fleur was already waiting for her with Floria and Athena both in her arms. The blonde was stoic and rigid and Hermione wondered if she was having second thoughts bringing Hermione along. Without hesitation, she picked Floria from the blonde’s arms, settling the still slumbering girl against her shoulder. It felt quite natural already. They said goodbyes, Hermione noticing that Ron was nowhere to be found. Minny popped in, having come to fetch them and with a simple grasp of the hand of the elf, Hermione found herself vanishing from the cold and cloudy Scottish landscape to reappear in a sunny, breezy part of France. 

“Oh wow,” gawked Hermione at the sheer size of the Delacour Mansion in front of her. She was standing in what was a massive garden, with well-trimmed trees and well-kept lawns, flowers blooming everywhere. A large beautiful white mansion with a blue roof sat behind, four towers at each corner. Everything was quite picturesque. 

“Come in, ‘Ermione,” said Fleur, hesitating a few seconds before taking the brunette’s hand and pulling her towards the mansion. She wasn’t surprised to see that the two toddlers were now awake, as apparating wasn’t a comfortable feeling. The two little girls, though, were quietly taking in their new surroundings. 

“I… I know I didn’t give you much choice when I said I was coming along. I apologise for that. I can try to find a hotel or accommodation nearby,” said Hermione, feeling like she had kind of invited herself to the blonde’s house.

“Nonsense, ‘Ermione. We ‘ave plenty of space for you. Plus I don’t think the girls would like you not being close by,” Fleur replied sincerely. 

No sooner had she opened the door and pulled Hermione in, that both women found themselves engulfed in a tight hug. 

“Mes amours!” squealed Apolline Delacour, barely containing her excitement. She has been on cloud nine since her mother Isabelle told her of the situation. 

Hermione barely had time to blink before Floria was being taken from her arms into the arms of a large handsome man with warm green eyes and black hair, a slight peppering of white hair mixed in. She looked to find that Fleur had lost Athena to what looked to be her mother. 

“Oh look, Armand. Elles sont si precieux! [Oh look, Armand, they are so precious!]” gushed Apolline, approaching her husband as they showed their granddaughters to each other. 

“Excuse the rude behaviour, ‘Ermione,” Fleur deadpanned looking at her parents, “This is my mother, Apolline Delacour and my father, Armand Delacour.” She pointed out with a slightly teasing voice. 

“Apologies Miss Granger, but do you blame us?” asked Armand, looking at Hermione with a warm smile.

“Oh… no, I understand, Mr Delacour,” replied Hermione, quite pleased that Fleur’s parents were taking all of this quite well. She hadn’t even thought of what she would have to tell her own parents. 

“Please call me Armand,” replied the Frenchman, extending his hand for Hermione to shake. 

“Then please call me Hermione,” she replied shaking his strong hand. 

“And call me Apolline,” said Fleur’s mother, pulling the brunette into a hug and depositing two quick kisses on each of her cheeks. 

“So you maman’s papa?” asked Floria, feeling quite safe in the arms of this unknown man and it seemed like Athena felt the same in the arms of the older woman, “and maman’s maman? Zen you grand-mère et grandpère?”

“Grandmère!” squealed Athena, wrapping her arms around the woman carrying her. 

“Mais oui!” smiled Apolline and then chaos was unleashed. The two girls started chatting their grandparents’ ears off and they didn’t mind one bit as they carried their little bundles of joy deeper into the house to the living room.

“Fleur, show ‘Ermione to her room, please,” instructed Apolline with barely a glance back as she disappeared with her husband and the kids around the corner. 

Huffing, Fleur turned to Hermione to find her looking at the disappearing group with amusement. “Come with me.”

They climbed the stairs and bumped into Isabelle on the way. 

“Ah, ladies. I hope ze travel went well. I ‘ave taken ze liberty of setting up your room, Fleur, to accommodate both ‘Ermione and ze kids wiz you.” Seeing both girls starting to protest, “Ladies, it iz important for ze babies to bond wiz you both, especially since you were taken out of ze temple too early.”

“Isabelle, will they be okay? Is there anything I can do? I know I am not Veela but…” Hermione asked, feeling worry bubbling back in her chest. 

“’Ermione, do not worry child. You might not be Veela but you are ze mother of two little Veelas and zis allows you all ze rights, privileges and resources allowed to us. I will teach you about us and our ways as we go, as I ‘ave to teach it to ze girls as well. And yes, you will be needed as we check ze babies, a lot of ze rituals we ‘ave demand ze presence and participation of both parents, so do not worry.” Isabelle tried to reassure the brunette, giving her a hug. 

“Thank you, Isabelle,” replied Hermione, grateful for the support that the matriarch was providing. It made her feel better, like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold morning. 

“Well now, why don’t you both go deposit your things in Fleur’s room and join us in ze living room. Lunch will be served soon.” And with those parting words, the older blonde descended the stairs to go see her great-grandbabies. 

Silently Fleur showed Hermione her room, noticing that the bed in her room had been enlarged to fit four people quite comfortably. There was the addition of a new desk and an additional walk-in closet. She pointed out the changes to Hermione who was quite grateful that the room was quite large and spacious.

“I ‘ope you don’t mind staying with me?'' asked Fleur hesitantly, her heart had started beating a hundred miles an hour since her grand-mère had pointed out that they would be staying in one room. She didn’t know what this close proximity to Hermione would do to her. 

“Oh, well it is what it is. I don’t mind. I used to share a room with other girls at Hogwarts,” shrugged Hermione, trying to seem like it wasn’t an issue for her. Sure, it was a bummer as she was now used to her own space in her apartment but she could handle this for the girls. 

“If you want some space to do other things while I am in this room, you are welcome to use the room next door on the right. It is a guest room.” offered Fleur.

“Thank you,” Hermione replied, grateful for the offer. 

They quickly deposited their luggage into the room and walked back downstairs. 

ᴥ

Fleur could not stop the smile from blooming on her face as she saw her family with her girls. 

“Mamam! Mum!” squealed both girls at their approach, running to them, Floria wrapping herself around her legs while Athena did the same to Hermione. 

Picking the little blonde in her arms, Fleur was again amazed how similar they looked and yet she could distinguish features that were so Hermione, like the nose and the freckles on the chubby cheeks. It made her heart sing. 

“You play wiz us?” the little blonde asked, looking at her sister, nestled in Hermione’s arms, for support.

“Pwease!” pleaded Athena to her mum. 

Chuckling, Fleur tickled the mini-me in her arms and lifted her in the air as she squealed and squirmed, “Oui, mes choux. But after we have lunch, ok?”

“Yay!” both girls cheered as their parents carried them to the dining hall.

All seated at the dinner table, Apolline looked at the sight in front of her. The girls were obviously not tall enough for the table but a few cushions were all that was needed to solve the problem. She watched as Fleur and Hermione worked seamlessly together, to settle their daughters at the table. 

Soon Minny brought in the dinner and she watched as both women paid no attention to their own meals but instead, helping the little ones cut their food and feeding them.

“I no like cawwots, Mum!” said Athena, refusing to eat the bright orange vegetable from hell. 

Ok, she is definitely my daughter, thought Hermione, smiling as she remembered her own dislike of the orange vegetable in her childhood. “It’s good for you, baby. For your eyes.” She tried to reason with the little brunette just like her mum had done to her. 

Athena whined, “but my eyes fine!” She widened her eyes in explanation as she pouted, avoiding the spoon that Hermione was bringing to her mouth. 

“I like cawwots,” intoned Floria, “Mum say eat your vegetawles, Thena!” she said pointedly at her sister. 

Huffing, Athena allowed the spoon into her mouth, swallowing with an exaggerated grimace, much to the amusement of everyone at the table. “Buurk!”

“And what do you like, ma fille?” asked Fleur, wanting to know more about the two new additions to her family. 

“Choco! And and, bewwies!” Athena replied, slapping her hands on the table in excitement as she thought of the treats. 

“Well, if you eat your carrots, I’ll get you some for dessert, what do you say?” replied Fleur, loving the look of glee that spread over the brunette’s face. 

“What aboot me?” asked Floria, not happy to be left out.

Smiling at how easily Fleur was being a mother, Hermione decided to try too, “And what do you like, dear?”

“Ice-cweam!”

“Me too!” added Athena.

“Ok, you can both get some chocolate ice-cream with berries but only if you finish all your dinner,” replied Fleur with authority. 

Both girls nodded and allowed their parents to feed them, Athena making sure to do her exaggerated swallowing and scowl every time Hermione fed her a piece of carrot. Fleur smiled at how much that scowl resembled Hermione’s.

True to her word, Fleur got Minny to bring the treats out for the girls once they cleaned up their plates. To the insistence of the girls, she allowed them to feed themselves and was shaking her head at the mess that was already starting to happen.

“Should we intervene?” she heard from her side as Hermione shuffled closer to her.

“Non, we can give them a bath after. They seem to be enjoying themselves,” said Fleur smiling as the girls decided to feed each other, “they are cute, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Hermione smiled at her girls, “I didn’t think I would so easily slip into the role of a mother. I know it won’t be easy but I’m feeling… kinda ok with it.”

“I’m worried too, I don’t think I am prepared but I am willing to do anything for them,” replied Fleur sincerely, “but don’t worry ‘Ermione. My family will help and I will be ‘ere with you every step of the way.” 

“I appreciate that, Fleur,” Hermione said, looking at the sincerity shining in Fleur’s blue-eyes, feeling a bit guilty for all the annoyance she had felt for the blonde ever since she had known her. Right now, looking at the French woman, she realised it was all unwarranted, “and I will be here for you and them as well.” She added, hoping to make amends as they go through this.

Turning back to the little girls, Hermione couldn’t stifle a laugh at their happy chocolate covered faces, “I guess it is time for that bath.”

“Indeed,” replied Fleur, happy at Hermione’s previous words. It was turning out to be great to have all her favourite people in one place.

ᴥ

Back in their shared room, Hermione was trying to get the girls out of their dirty clothes which was a struggle, they would squirm and run away, laughing. By the time Fleur had finished filling up the bathtub in the connected bathroom with warm water and bubbles, Hermione was dishevelled carrying two naked giggling tykes under her arm like sacks of potatoes. 

“’Ere, let me ‘elp,” said Fleur amused as she took Athena from Hermione’s arm and deposited the girl into the water, who started splashing around right away. As she moved to take Floria, the girl screamed, “Non! I no take bath!” with hands and legs thrashing wildly, Hermione could barely keep a grip on her. 

“And why not, young lady?” Hermione asked, shifting the girl in her arms so she could hold her more securely. 

“I not dirty!” she huffed, crossing her arms and her blue eyes set in a glare, which would have looked serious if she didn’t have chocolate smeared all over her pale face. 

Hermione looked to Fleur, not sure what to do. 

Fleur smiled and took the little blonde into her arms, tickling her, “Oh really?” she said to the giggling girl and she lifted her and blew a raspberry into her tummy, “but what is this I smell?” she said, smelling the air exaggeratedly, “stinky!”

“Ria stinky!” Athena laughed at her sister. She was having fun, there were loads of bubbles. 

“I not stinky” Floria pouted. She wasn’t! She was pretty sure she smelled like flowers. 

“Now do you want to stay stinky? No one will play with you,” said Fleur, feeling slightly guilty at the crestfallen face of the little blonde, those sad teary blue eyes could melt glaciers. 

“No, I bath Maman. I no stinky. You still play wiz me?” she asked sadly. 

“Of course I play with you, mon ange,” replied Fleur depositing kisses on the chocolate covered cheeks, “Let’s get clean first yeah?” Seeing her little flower nod, she deposited her into the bathtub, right next to her sister. 

“You are really good at this,” replied Hermione.

“I ‘ave a bit of practice with my sister, Gabrielle,” explained Fleur.

“Ah yes, I’m assuming she is at Beauxbatons.” Hermione said as she knelt next to the bathtub and grabbed a sponge to scrub Floria clean. 

“Oui,” nodded Fleur, mirroring her actions with Athena, who was busy splashing water at her sister.

“I’m sorry I have not been much help. I am an only child,” said Hermione, feeling a bit out of depth. 

“Please ‘Ermione, don’t worry. We are learning as we go,” Fleur reassured her. 

“Mum! Maman! You bath wiz us?” asked Athena, looking expectantly at her parents. 

“Uhhh…” Hermione’s face flushed at the idea, not sure what to say to the pleading auburn eyes in front of her. _God, no wonder dad couldn’t refuse me anything. Those eyes!_

“Oui, bath wiz us!” said Floria, “Maman stinky too!”

Hermione couldn’t hold the snort that came out of her, seeing Floria use Fleur’s words against her with her mischievous blue eyes twinkling. She felt like she was getting a glimpse of what Fleur was like when she was a child.

Fleur gave a mock glare at her little one before turning to Hermione, “I can enlarge the bathtub if you want?” _Stop! What are you offering?!_ She internally screamed at herself. 

“Oui Maman, do it!” squealed Athena, bouncing sending waves of water which made Floria start bouncing too, splashing water all over the floor.

_Come on Hermione, you have had baths with girls before. Remember Hogwarts, you went to school there, yeah?_ “Ok”, she quietly acquiesced, feeling like she wasn’t sure what she was agreeing to. 

Fleur’s face grew hot at the agreement and barely managed to stand up with her shaky knees. Pulling out her wand, she quickly enlarged the tub much to the delight of the babies, their tub transformed into a pool. Putting her wand on the marble counter, she turned her back to Hermione and started disrobing. 

Hermione was shocked frozen when Fleur pulled her pants down, firm buttocks encased in a cute boxer with feather print apparating into her vision. Her heart thudded as she followed the garment’s descent revealing the longest pair of legs, calves muscles prominently displayed. She blushed when she realised she was staring and turned to disrobe as well. 

Fleur managed to get in the water but not before catching a glimpse of Hermione’s strong pale back as the brunette shed her blouse. She nearly slipped and fell face-first into the tub-pool but managed to right herself at the last minute and quickly sank into the warm bubbly water, enough to just cover the top of her breast. She longed to touch the skin she had just been witness to, trace every inch of that spine with the tips of her fingers. She fixed her eyes on the toddlers when she heard Hermione shuffle to step in, not wanting to make the woman feel uncomfortable but also worried that her thoughts would be painfully visible in her eyes. 

The awkwardness was broken with little Floria, climbing onto Fleur with a sponge in hand, “Maman stinky, I cwean!” she said as she scrubbed Fleur’s shoulders seriously, the tip of her tongue sticking out in concentration.

Hermione’s laugh earned her a glare from the blonde and soon, they were all splashing water back and forth in a water fight, the girls squealing and joining in. After seeing the girls start to tire a few minutes later, they quickly shampooed and washed their hair which took a bit of time as all four of them had quite long hair. Getting out of the water first, Fleur accioed their robes and towels, Hermione flushing as rivulets of water cascaded down the blonde’s smooth back. She quickly averted her eyes and concentrated on the little beauty mark on Athena’s shoulder. After feeling like Fleur had finally put her robe on, she got out of the tub as well, grateful for the blonde averting her eyes as she stepped out. She towelled herself dry quickly and slipped on the fluffy dark blue robe. 

“On sort maintenant, [Come out now]” instructed Fleur approaching the girls. She picked Athena up and wrapped her in a towel like a burrito. Watching as Hermione did the same to the squirming Floria as they walked back into their room. It would seem that dressing up the toddlers was even harder of a task than disrobing them and after making their parents run all over the place to catch them and dress them, the little ones fell asleep on the bed for a nap. 

After making sure that the twins were framed and protected with a wall of pillows on every side, Hermione and Fleur went to dress in their respective walk-in closet. 

Hermione walked out of the closet having decided to go with simple comfortable pants and a button-up shirt and was halted in her steps at the scene in front of her. Fleur, wearing a Beauxbatons tank top and white shorts, was slumbering on Athena’s side of the bed, her arm across both girls. To Hermione, it was one of the cutest things she had seen. _How does she look so good in virtually everything? She’s cute when she is sleeping though… less tense… I guess a nap is not a bad idea_ , thought Hermione as she noticed the tiredness in her bones and she quietly slipped on the other side of the bed, mirroring Fleur as she kept the babies safe between them. Pulling a blanket on all four of them, Hermione snuggled into Floria. Being with all three, it felt like a family. It had been so long since she felt like being part of a family. Being a muggleborn and with her parents not part of the magical world, it had always felt a bit lonely, despite having her friends and all. This was now her family, her children. A warmth bloomed in her heart as she fell asleep. 

  
  


ᴥ


	5. Check Up

It was a knock that woke Hermione from her sleep. She carefully got out of bed to make sure she didn't wake up any of the other occupants and opened the door, to see Isabelle and Apolline smiling at her.

"Sorry to disturb, 'Ermione but if you let zhem sleep any longer, zhey will not sleep at night," said Apolline, with a motherly knowing tone. Little did Hermione know, she was also talking about Fleur.

"And we would like to start ze check-up for ze girls," added Isabelle, feeling a bit bad to dampen the mood.

"Oh sorry, yes I will wake them up," replied Hermione.

"We will wait in ze living room," said Isabelle before walking away with Apolline.

Shuffling back to the bed, she gently shook Floria to wake her up, "baby, wake up" she said soothingly as she saw her little blonde blink her sleepy blue eyes open.

"Mum?" asked Floria, yawning.

"Yes darling, we have to wake up," said Hermione as she gently shook Athena out of her slumber too.

"Ria?" mumbled Athena and sat up, thinking her sister was waking her up.

"It's uhh...Mum, love," she said, feeling weird at calling herself 'Mum', "We have to wake up, grandma needs you both for something."

"Maman not wake yet. I wake her?" asked Athena, noticing her maman sleeping by her side.

Hermione smiled, nodding as she watched the two girls crawl closer to Fleur, giggling before pouncing at her, tickling as much as their little fingers could.

"Quoi…!" Fleur shot up, squirming away from the little hands tickling her. She was so surprised that she toppled off the bed, smack back onto the floor. Slowly re-opening her eyes, she saw a pair of blue eyes and a pair of brown eyes mischievously peering at her over the bed and heard the giggles.

"You two are lucky, I love you both" she mock-glared as she stood up, finding a second pair of laughing brown eyes looking at her, "Humf," she pouted, "you guys are mean!"

Hermione laughed, it was just all hilarious. Fleur Delacour, the prim and proper woman, thrown to the floor by two little toddlers.

After all their teasing and jokes, Hermione told Fleur about her grandmother and mother waiting for them in the living room, seeing the worry seep into the azure eyes. They each picked one of the girls and exited the room, descending the stairs.

They were ushered into an adjoining spacious room that looked like some sort of atrium, with a glass roof, letting the afternoon light stream in. They all followed Isabelle's instruction to sit in a circle on the plush blue carpet, holding hands. The two sisters sat quietly holding each other's hand. Hermione took Athena's hand and Fleur took Floria's. The circle was completed when Hermione took Fleur's. Fleur felt warmth spread across her body as Hermione's hand slipped in hers. She felt a little shake in the hand and looked into Hermione's eyes seeing the apprehension in there and gave a small squeeze to reassure the brunette.

"Close your eyes, ladies," instructed Isabelle as she started chanting in Veelan in unison with Apolline.

Hermione felt less scared as she felt Fleur squeeze her hand and squeezed back in gratitude. She didn't know how long they sat there holding each others' hands. She was quite surprised that the toddlers had managed to sit still for that long.

"You can open your eyes again," said Apolline as she looked at the foursome, "I will take care of zhem while you speak to Maman, hmm?" she gently said and picked the two girls when Fleur and Hermione nodded, "Venez les filles, on va jouer [Come on girls, we're going to play]"

"So, what is it?" Fleur asked her grandmother as she got back to her feet, helping Hermione up as well.

"First thing, I am sure we are all wondering how zhey know 'ow to talk, English and French at ze same time, 'ow zey recognise objects when no one 'as ever taught zhem so," said Isabelle. Seeing the two mothers' nod, she continued, "to explain zhat, we need to understand 'ow ze temple works. For children conceived naturally, zhey are nozhing but a cluster of cells at ze start which grows wiz time. Ze temple doesn't work zhat way, it takes both of you as you are and compresses you till we 'ave a small baby. It works backwards. Zis iz ze reason why zhey are not babies as ze ritual was interrupted when you were removed from ze temple, ze compression was never finished. Zhey are three-year olds. Since zhey are a compression of you both, zhey retain some of ze knowledge you both 'ad at three, thus why zey can speak both languages and identify objects."

"That makes sense," replied Hermione, quite surprised at what she was learning.

"And are they ok? Is there an issue with them because of the interruption?" asked Fleur, worried.

"I'm concerned as zheir immune system seems a bit weak, it could affect zheir magical cores," replied Isabelle as she started rummaging in a chest at the corner of the room, pulling two vials and pushing them in Hermione's hands, "Zhey need to drink one each in ze morning every day for a month at least. I will make more and get Minny to leave it on your bedside table every morning. We can do some rituals to share some of Fleur's Veela core wiz zhem, zhough it will drain her. And I zhink we need to do ze Veela awakening soon. It will give zhem a boost in magic for zheir magical core."

Fleur nodded, turning to Hermione to explain, "The Veela awakening is a ritual that is done when Veela are still children. The Veela is dormant in them and doing so helps awaken it and their magic. Veela magic is protective."

"When can we do it?" asked Hermione.

"In a few months would be best. Ze potion will allow zhem to recover enough for ze ritual and it will give me enough time to inform ze Clan and get things ready," replied Isabelle, looking at the brunette, "I'll give you both some time to talk as I go send letters to ze Clan. Fleur told me you love reading 'Ermione, I will get Minny to drop some Veela books to your room. I will also include a book about the fertility temples for you both." Turning to Fleur, she then added, "We will have the rituals to share your core wiz zhem every Tuesday and Friday," And with that, she exited the room.

Fleur could see the slight shaking of the brunette's shoulders in front of her and she gently pried the vials from the brunette's hand, slipping them in her pocket before taking both of Hermione's hands in hers.

"Will they be ok, Fleur?" asked Hermione with a small voice, fear deep in her eyes.

"I will make sure of it," vowed Fleur pulling the woman into her arms. It was breaking her heart to see her chosen so small.

Hermione buried herself in the blonde's arms, desperately needing comfort. As if knowing, the blonde squeezed her tighter.

ᴥ

After a few words with Apolline, Fleur had pulled Hermione back to their room, leaving the kids playing with their grandparents.

"There are a few papers we 'ave to fill but it 'as been a trying day for you so we can leave it for tomorrow if you want," said Fleur pointing at a stack of papers on her desk, as Apolline had mentioned to her.

"What is it?" asked Hermione

"The registration papers for the girls," replied Fleur, picking up some of the pages to have a quick look through.

"I thought you told me that you didn't need registration here," replied Hermione frowning.

"Oh, not that kind, non. This is registration for Magical Citizenship. It is to show that the girls are Citizens of France and we are their parents. Here are also the same papers for Britain. The extra papers for Creature registration from Britain is what I don't care about," answered Fleur, in disdain.

"Oh, well that is good to hear. Let's fill them up right now, while we have the time, replied Hermione as she picked up a stack.

Half an hour later, they finished all the paperwork and signed it all with ink and magic as well. Fleur looked longingly at what was written on the pages.

Child #1 - Name: Floria Delacour-Granger (Veela)

Child #2 - Name: Athena Delacour-Granger (Veela)

Parents:

Fleur Isabelle Delacour (Veela) & Hermione Jean Granger (Witch)

She wished that both parents could be Delacour-Granger too. A pang of sadness hit her and she sucked in a deep breath to keep her eyes from tearing up. If she was destined to never be with her Chosen, then she would take the fact that she had two beautiful babies with her. It would have to be enough, it was more than she had ever expected.

That night when all four slipped into bed in the same position as their earlier nap, Fleur tried to evade sleep as much as she could, trying to commit the image of her love and children sleeping by her side to memory.

ᴥ

The next day Fleur woke up before the other bed occupants, despite having fallen asleep after them. Shifting slightly, she decided to bask into the moment and do the same thing she was doing last night, committing the image to memory, new in the light of day.

"Hmm, moonstone with gurdyroot…," Hermione murmured, bringing a smile to Fleur's face. _Elle est adorable [She's adorable],_ sighed Fleur, looking at the peaceful face of her Chosen. Seems like she was a sleep-talker and still studying in her sleep. Fleur chuckled, it was such a Hermione thing. She stared openly at the tanned face in front of her, counting every freckle she could find and observing every slight flutter of Hermione's eyelashes as she dreamed. Her senses were acutely tuned in to every breath that passed through the slightly open pink lips. It was such a rare opportunity for her, to be so close to her Chosen and be able to properly look at her. She usually avoided having her eyes on the brunette for too long when they interacted, for fear that her eyes would betray her feelings. Deciding to just stay in bed, she barely noticed when her eyes fluttered shut as sleep captured her again.

ᴥ

The second time, Fleur woke up with a start, the toddlers tickling her again. She didn't have the heart to be annoyed as she watched her Chosen and kids laugh at her. She wished she could wake up like this every morning for the rest of her life but she knew it was just a temporary thing. Hermione was with Ron.

After freshening up with the toddlers, the two women descended the stairs to the dining room which was connected to an open kitchen. Breakfast was a fun affair with Fleur's parents taking over the feeding of the kids this time, Floria nicely settled in the lap of Armand while Athena was in Apolline's.

"It's time for you both to drink your potions," said Fleur after the twins finished their breakfast. Pulled the vials out of her pocket, she passed them to her parents.

"Non!" said Floria as the smell wafted to her nose when Armand uncorked the vial, "smells bad!"

"Oui, stinky!" Athena agreed. Hermione had to stifle a snort as she remembered the bath the other day.

"No discussion. Your potions, now," replied Fleur with authority, eyes narrowing at Hermione.

"But Maman…" the little blonde whined. It smelled really bad.

"Floria. Maman said no discussion." Hermione fixed the little blue eyes with a steady glance.

With a little bit of huffing and puffing, the twins drank their potion with disgust on their little faces.

"You both are getting into ze roles of muzzers quite well, I must say," said Apolline, smiling at the two.

"We try," replied Hermione, smiling back as she took a quick glance at Fleur. She was sure this would have been infinitesimally more difficult had she not had the blonde by her side.

ᴥ

Days passed quickly and it was already two weeks since Hermione had been in France. She was still working with the British Ministry as a Researcher, though remotely. Shaklebolt had kept her assigned to the temple still. Now that it had been completely declared Veela Jurisdiction, she was working with Fleur and Isabelle on the subject. While the two Veelas were quite helpful and willing to provide her information on the inscriptions and such, she had learnt quickly that there was a limited amount she could divulge in her report to the British Ministry. That didn't stop her from wanting to learn more though, she was quite enjoying it.

Fleur and her have been diligently giving the girls their potion, though it took quite a bit of effort to get the girls to drink it. Fleur had also been doing the rituals to share her Veela core with the twins and it made Hermione feel sad and guilty. She could see how much it drained the French woman, who looked so tired and weak these days, and wished she was a Veela too so she could contribute. She had asked Isabelle if there was something she could do but the matriarch had told her that it was a Veela thing. Isabelle had tried to tell Fleur to maybe slow it down a bit, take a break from the core sharing but Fleur would have none of that. It warmed her heart to see the other parent of her girls be so willing to do anything for their wellbeing but it still worried her as she looked at the exhausted Fleur. On the other hand, Isabelle had told them that the core-sharing had been helping immensely and that the girls seemed more in tune with their magic core. In between it all, she had been owling Harry and Ron frequently and she realised it was time to drop by London to see them. Today was a Saturday which made it the perfect time to do so.

"I'm thinking of dropping by to see Harry and Ron today," she said as she approached Fleur who was playing with the twins on the bed.

"Oh," replied Fleur, not sure what to say, "Sure, I can have Minny take you there and you can call her when you are ready to… come back?" the last two words coming out a bit strangled. She was a bit worried that the brunette wouldn't want to come back.

"That sounds great, apparating such a long distance would be tiring," replied Hermione, smiling in gratitude, "I'll probably stay till Sunday."

"Oh ok, sure. I will take care of the girls." Fleur returned the smile. She watched as Hermione started packing a few things. They both didn't notice the two pairs of eyes watching them intently.

"I go Mummy!" said Athena, shuffling down the bed to grab Hermione's skirt.

"Me too!" replied Floria, wrapping herself around the brunette's leg.

"Girls," Fleur grabbed them both, pulling them away from the brunette, "Mummy is just going to do something important, she'll be back soon."

Hermione and Fleur both watched as the girls' faces dropped, bottom lips quivering.

Hermione looked at Fleur, not knowing what to do, "It's fine, 'Ermione. You go," Fleur said with a smile.

"I go," Athena whimpered, and started to cry which caused Floria to hug her sister and cry as well.

Kneeling, Hermione pulled both into her arms for a hug, their sobs breaking her heart, "Sweet peas, I'll be back soon and I'll even bring you guys a present, how does that sound?"

The twins raised their heads, rosy cheeks flushed, with tears streaming down their faces and Hermione was ready to drop the idea of leaving but she knew she had to go, "Pomise?" asked Floria, sniffling.

"Hundred percent! Now be good girls to your Maman while I'm gone, ok?' said Hermione warmly, gently wiping the tears off their baby cheeks. Kissing them both, she got up to finish her packing, the toddlers helping stuff random things they thought she needed, in her little carry-on.

Fleur watched for a few minutes before laughing and picking up the twins, accompanying Hermione downstairs. She watched as the brunette kissed the little girls on their cheeks to say her goodbyes. Minny was already waiting to drop her off to Britain.

"Mummy, give Maman kiss bye-bye," said Floria. Hermione's eyes widened as she felt colour rush to her face.

"Mummy is going to be late…" Fleur said, trying to get out of this tricky situation.

'Non, Mummy not go before kiss!" insisted Athena, pouting. That's not how it works.

Frozen in the spot for a few seconds, Hermione let out a nervous laugh. She quickly dropped a kiss on Fleur's cheeks before grabbing Minny's hand, quickly waving everyone goodbye before disapparating, not seeing the matching colours rush to Fleur's face.

"Maman, why you red?" Athena observed, cupping the red cheeks of Fleur with her little pudgy hands.

"Like Mummy?" Floria added, pointing at the spot where Hermione was standing seconds ago.

The twins were going to be the death of her, Fleur was sure.

ᴥ

**Grimmauld Place**

Apparating right in front of Grimmauld Place, Hermione took the time to thank and bid goodbye to the Delacour House-Elf before she walked into the house. She was pleasantly surprised to see Harry at home, playing Chess with Ron.

"Hermione! You are back!" said Harry, noticing her first. He got up to hug her.

Hermione was just about to say hello when she was taken into a bear hug and chapped lips engulfed her own. She allowed the kiss to go for a few seconds before pulling away.

"Mione, you are here," Ron whispered against her lips.

"Hi," she replied, shuffling out of his arms. She allowed him to take her hand as he pulled her to the sofa to sit next to him.

"How have you been?" asked Harry as he sat in the armchair across them, "how are the girls?"

"They are well, though Fleur's grandmother has mentioned a few things about their health because we were taken out of the temple so we are currently working on that."

"They are well?", asked Ron happily, "You're back then."

"I'm back for the weekend. I also have to visit my parents then I'm back to France"

"Why? You said they are ok and now they have a bunch of Veela to take care of them. Why do you need to be there?" asked Ron, frowning.

"Because they are my children, Ron" replied Hermione, not even understanding why that was even a question.

"Uhh yeah ok, but you can visit them sometimes. You don't have to be living in France," explained Ron, "Your family is here, we are here."

"No Ron, they need me and I promised them I'll be back," replied Hermione, starting to get irritated.

Seeing Hermione's mood shift, Ron decided to drop the subject. The trio chatted, catching up with what was happening in each other's life before Hermione yawned.

"Looks like you are tired, why don't you go take a nap?" suggested Harry, as he packed up the Wizarding Chess.

"Yeah, you are right," As Hermione's reached for her carry-on, she found it in the hands of Ron, "I'll grab it for you," he said. Too tired to argue, she just nodded and started up the stairs.

As she reached the first floor, she was about to turn right when she felt Ron pull at her arm, "why don't you stay with me? We haven't seen each other for a while..." He asked, tugging her towards the left.

"No Ron, I'm too tired right now. I would like my own room to nap, please," she replied. Not waiting for his response, she pulled her luggage out of his hands and disappeared down the right hallway.

ᴥ

It was around hours later that Hermione was woken up from her nap by someone knocking on her door. She was shocked she had slept for so long. She had only wanted to lie down for a short nap. Shuffling out of the bed, she pulled the door open to reveal a grinning Ron.

"Ron?" she asked, confused about why he was here. She was startled when she was swept off her feet and into the arms of the redhead. She heard the door slam shut and was engulfed in a desperate kiss before she could say anything.

"Mmmm," Ron moaned, pushing her back towards the bed, "I missed you Mione, so much," he murmured against her lips as he pushed her down the bed and climbed on top of her, his rough hands roaming all over her body.

"Ron," she huffed. She closed her eyes and started moving her lips, trying to respond. She was supposed to be enjoying this, wasn't she? After all, he was her boyfriend.

"God Mione," Ron moaned again and Hermione could feel the presence of his arousal straining against her abdomen and it caused uncomfortable shivers down her spine. Suddenly, Fleur's smiling face flashed underneath her eyelids, followed by the grinning faces of the twins. Mustering some strength, she pushed him off her and quickly shuffled out of the bed.

"Mione what?" asked Ron, confused how he had ended on his back.

"Stop Ron," Hermione replied, fixing her clothes and hair.

"What's the issue?" asked Ron, annoyed as he sat up to look at the brunette.

"I'm not ready," she replied, looking at him.

"Why? We've been dating for a while now," he asked, frustration laced in his voice.

"I don't know… I'm just not," She said, watching as his face flushed with anger.

"Whatever Mione," He got up from the bed, exiting the room and slamming the door behind him.

ᴥ

Not wanting to be around the angry redhead, Hermione quickly changed and apparated to her childhood home.

"Mum? Dad?" she called out as she shuffled inside, having opened the door with her key.

"Buttercup?" she heard, echoing from down the hallway followed by thudding footsteps and she was soon engulfed in a warm hug from her dad.

"Hermione! It's so good to see you!" Emily Granger said, hugging her as well as soon as her husband Thomas Granger let her little girl go.

Hermione smiled, greeting her parents enthusiastically. It always felt good to be back home to see her parents. She shuffled further into the house with them as they asked her how her life was going.

"Mum, Dad, I have something important I need to inform you about…" she said as she steered them towards the living room. She watched as worry and concern filled their brown eyes as they all sat down on the sofas.

"What is it, love?" asked Emily, taking her daughter's hands in hers, "you know we are always here for you." Thomas nodded in agreement.

"I don't know how to explain this," huffed Hermione, "I… I was tasked with a new project by the ministry. We were supposed to check this newly discovered temple. It was a Veela temple… Uhm, Veelas are people who can shift into bird-like creatures, descendants of Sirens and Mermaids.

"Oh wow, that sounds like a big project, Buttercup!" intoned Thomas, proud of his daughter. It always amazed him when she told them about all the creatures that existed in the magical world. It's hard for him to imagine what it's like.

"Yes, and since it belonged to the Veela, they sent a Veela to come inspect it with me. Fleur Delacour, from the French Ministry. Remember I told you she was the Champion of the Triwizard Cup?"

"Why yes, I do remember that. French, blonde with blue eyes? You showed us the moving photo of the champions." asked Emily, a small smile appearing on her face. Her daughter had definitely talked a lot about that particular champion.

"Yeah, well everything was going fine until I tripped and Fleur and I fell onto this altar. That started this spell…"

"Were you hurt?" interrupted Emily, running her fingers over her daughter to check for injury.

"No, no. I'm ok Mum. It started something and we were pulled out by our team. There were some issues afterwards with getting back in but once we did, we found two little girls inside." Hearing the gasps of her parents, she reassured them that the toddlers were fine.

"What would two little girls be doing in there?" asked Emily, "did you manage to find their parents? God, they must have been so worried!" Emily imagined in what sort of state she would have been had her little Hermione suddenly disappeared from her side. She would have been beside herself!

"Well… that's the thing… this temple was revealed to be a fertility temple and what happened when Fleur and I fell on the altar, it started the process… and," Hermione huffed, this was so hard to explain! She decided to just get it over and done with, "What I'm saying is the little girls belong to us… Fleur and I. They are our children." She looked down at her hands, scared of what her parents would say.

The silence that followed unnerved her. When nothing was spoken after a minute, she dared to look up into the stunned faces of her parents, "Mum? Dad?" she whispered, fear clear in her voice.

"You are saying the children are yours?" asked Thomas, carefully, trying to wrap his mind around it. Seeing his little girl nod hesitantly with fear in her eyes, he quickly wrapped her in his arms, "I'm a granddad!" he cheered, putting her at ease, "Though it has happened in the most unconventional sense, which doesn't surprise me! You have always been unconventional!" he chuckled, remembering learning that his little girl was a witch.

"Oh my girl," said Emily, joining the hug, depositing a gentle kiss on her daughter's temple. "Is it true? Can we see them?"

"You are not disappointed?" asked Hermione, voice childlike.

"No baby, no." Emily rushed to reassure her daughter, "We love you! It must have been hard for you! You sure weren't prepared for children."

Smiling now that Hermione realised her parents were all fine with what happened, "Yeah I wasn't… I am currently living in France with Fleur and her family as the children needed to be checked and since they are Veela, it made more sense to be closer to Fleur's Veela Clan in France."

"Oh Buttercup! We want to see them! Can we? What do they look like? Did you give them names?" asked Thomas excitedly.

"I'm sure we can organise something soon. One is a little brunette, looks like me. Her name is Athena… and Floria looks just like Fleur..." The conversation flowed as Hermione relaxed and started talking excitedly about the two little Veelas who have embedded themselves in her heart, eyes shining with love and adoration, clearly to be seen by Emily and Thomas.

ᴥ

It was late at night when she apparated back to Grimmauld place, having stayed for dinner with her parents. She cast a silencio to her feet so she wouldn't announce herself to Ron as she walked up to her room. Getting dressed for bed, she climbed under the covers and tried to concentrate on one of the Veela books that Isabelle had provided but she was having little success. To be truthful, she was already missing the exuberant twins and she wouldn't dare say it out loud, she was missing Fleur as well. The blonde has been a constant presence, providing help, comfort and companionship. Conversations flowed easier with the blonde, on topics that would never interest Ron and it was refreshing.

Her musing was interrupted by knocking on the window. Looking up she found a familiar owl on the windowsill. Climbing out of bed, she carefully opened the window to allow the bird in and untied the letter, opening it.

_Dearest Miss Granger,_

_I heard the news and instructed Mr Potter to let me know when you are back in Britain._

_Would you care for lunch tomorrow at Hogwarts?_

_Minerva McGonagall_

Pondering on it for a few seconds, Hermione decided to scribble a quick acceptance before sending the owl away with it.

Climbing onto the bed again, forgoing her book, she decided to instead try and get some sleep. As her eyes slowly fluttered shut, she groggily wondered how her three Veelas were fairing on the other side of the English channel.

ᴥ

It was a bit nostalgic to step within the grounds of Hogwarts. She hasn't been here for years. She had kept in contact with McGonagall since she graduated and the two had sort of become good friends. It was just last year that Dumbledore announced his retirement and plan to go surfing in Hawaii and Minerva had been awarded the post of Headmistress of Hogwarts. She still knew the castle like the back of her hand and as such, taking shortcuts, she quickly found herself knocking on the door of the Headmistress' Office. She took the time to pat down her attire. She was wearing a white shirt paired with black slacks and her black coat on top of it. Ankle-high boots and a Gryffindor scarf completed the outfit. The portrait swung open and she was greeted with a hug by a smiling McGonagall.

"Miss Granger, it's been so long since I've seen you. Come in," invited Minerva as she ushered her ex-student into her quarters.

The place was quite different to the last time Hermione had been in there with Dumbledore as the Headmaster. All of Dumbledore's knickknacks had been replaced with trophies for Quidditch, Hogwarts banners and pennants as well as a few certificates that looked to be for Transfiguration. The place was quite large and Hermione could see that there was a small table set up on the side, already laden with all sorts of dishes.

"Hello Professor McGonagall, how are you?" asked Hermione, as she took a seat across her former mentor.

"I'm quite well, thank you. But most importantly, how have you been dear? I've heard accounts of what happened with your mission from the Ministry! I had to find Mr Potter to confirm what happened since you had suddenly disappeared, only to learn you had up and gone to France!" scolded the Head Mistress.

"Ah yes, I'm sorry," said Hermione apologetically and she then spent the next hour explaining the happenings, as she had with her parents just yesterday as they ate.

"My Lord!" said Minerva, bringing her hand to her chest, "and the little ones are ok?"

"They are getting better as days go and Fleur has been sharing her core with them as well. Fleur, on the other side, seems to be getting weaker," explained Hermione, a pang of sadness erupting in her chest. She hated seeing the woman tired and physically weak, though the blonde tried everything to conceal it. Not that this made the French woman look weak to Hermione, instead her dedication to the children made her look even stronger. Fleur had always been a vision of strength to Hermione, despite her previous dislike of the blonde. After all, not anyone can win the Triwizard Tournament.

"Well, that is to be expected. Sharing a magical core is no simple thing," replied Minerva, seeing the worry clear on her ex-student's face. Reaching out and taking the Gryffindor's hand in hers, she added, "let me know if there is anything I can do. I would love to meet them someday."

Smiling at the gesture, Hermione squeezed the older woman's hand in gratitude, "Thank you, Professor, it means a lot to me."

"Just so you know, their names are already in Hogwarts Book of Students," grinned Minerva as she released the young woman's hand.

"Oh"

ᴥ

After her lunch with McGonagall, Hermione had returned to Grimmauld Place, feeling a bit restless being away from the girls. Harry was away visiting Sirius and she wasn't sure where Ron was and didn't really want to know. She tried to take her mind off things by going to read in her room but after an hour of not being able to concentrate, she huffed and started packing. Not that there was much to pack, she had barely taken anything out of her suitcase, only a few articles of clothing and a few books she had taken from her bedroom at her parents. Quickly scribbling a note for Harry and Ron, she left it in the foyer where they would easily see it and disapparated.

Re-apparating at her apartment, she grabbed a few more things she hadn't managed to pack last time in her hurry and called for Minny. Soon she felt the familiar unpleasant warping in her stomach as with a pop, the pair vanished in thin air.


	6. Bonding With The Babies

Hermione’s feet barely had time to touch the tiled floor of the Delacour living room when she heard squeals and hands wrapping around her legs. 

“Mummy, you back!” the twins squealed as they hugged her legs tight. Hermione couldn’t stop the grin that blossomed on her face. Dropping her suitcase, she quickly scooped them up into her arms. 

“Did you both miss me?” she asked, pecking them on the forehead, only to receive wet kisses on her cheeks, not that she minded. 

“Yes Mummy!” grinned Athena, so happy her mother was back. She always found it best to have both her mothers around. It was just the way it was supposed to be! Much more fun!, “Maman miss you too!”

“Uh!” nodded Floria, agreeing with her sister’s statement.

Hermione was a bit startled at the words but shrugged it off as just being something kids would say. She spied Fleur leaning against a column, observing them. The blonde, noticing her gaze, pushed off the pillar and walked towards her, “Welcome back, ‘Ermione.” She said, grabbing the suitcase on the floor, “I’ll drop this in our room for you.” Without waiting for a reply from her, the blonde was already taking the stairs. 

Watching her go, Hermione was a bit confused but decided to pay attention to the twins as they started telling her all the things they had been up to while she was away. 

Fleur, on her hand, had reached their room and dropped the suitcase in Hermione’s closet. She knew she was behaving a bit weirdly so decided to take some minutes to compose herself. She had missed the brunette so bad when she was gone, in a way she hadn’t expected. I _‘ave gotten used to ‘aving ‘er around. This is bad._ Quickly washing her face in the bathroom, she descended the stairs and found her little group sitting on the sofa, the view melting her heart. The trio was deep in conversation, telling each other about their days while they had been separated, Hermione telling the girls about London and Hogwarts while the little ones asked a million questions and ate the chocolate frogs that Hermione had brought back for them. Athena had a Gryffindor lion plush with her while Floria was holding a Ravenclaw eagle one.. Deciding to not interrupt, she changed her course to another room in the house. 

It was one of her favourite rooms, the Music Room, filled with all sorts of instruments lining up the walls, violins, flutes, guitars, you name it. Then in the left corner of the room sat a drum kit, a cello and a harp. In the centre, sat one of her favourites, a white Grand Piano gleaming as a beam of the light struck it from the appropriately positioned skylight on the roof. Slipping onto the piano bench, she opened the cover and hovered her fingers on the ivory and black keys. Music had always been her way to calm herself when she got overwhelmed. Filtering through the different pieces in her mind, she decided on one and her fingers pressed confidently on the keys. 

ᴥ

“‘Ermione, I hope your trip went well.”

Hermione turned around to see Isabelle approach her. Allowing the older woman to bestow the custom cheek kisses, she replied, “yes, it was ok.” 

“Mummy was telling us aboot her skool!” added Floria, wanting to be part of the conversation.

“Was she now?” Isabelle smiled, “did she tell you about the time your maman went to her school for a Tournament and won it?”

Floria’s brows furrowed, “what is a Toormament?” 

“Ah, it’s like a game? You play against others to win.” Hermione tried to explain.

“And Maman win?” asked Athena, eyes glowing with excitement.

“Yes, she was Champion,” replied Isabelle and she watched as the girls clapped, happy that their maman had won.

“Where’s Maman?” asked Floria, looking around her, now realising that she couldn’t see the subject of their conversation. 

“Hmm, if my senses serve me well, she is in the Music Room,” Isabelle said pointing at the right hallway, “Second room to the right”

“Mummy, we go see Maman!” replied Floria, climbing into the arms of her mother, urging her to march forward. 

“Ok ok,” replied Hermione, smiling at the impatience of the little blonde, she was sure that Fleur was the same. Scooping up Athena as well, she walked down to the room Isabelle had mentioned. Shifting the girls in her arms, she managed to turn the doorknob and opened the door to a sight that left her a bit breathless. Fleur was shimmering in a beam of light as she sat in front of a majestic white piano, playing a beautiful melody that Hermione didn’t recognise. She didn’t realise that the girls had wiggled out of her arms and was taken out of her stupor when the music stopped and she realised that the girls had reached Fleur. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt you,” she said apologetically as she approached the blonde. 

“It is fine,” Fleur smiled, she wasn’t bothered at all. 

“Maman, what this?” asked Athena, always the curious child, trying to climb onto the piano bench to sit with Fleur but struggling. Fleur grabbed the little brunette and settled the girl next to her, doing the same with Floria.

“This, my love, is a piano,” Fleur loved teaching the girls new things

“Pinano? Makes song?” Athena asked, curiously bringing her finger forward to press one of the ivory keys like she had seen her maman do and was ecstatic to hear a ‘ding’. She pressed another one and then another one, hearing different ‘dings’. This was so much fun! Floria, seeing her sister having so much fun decided to join in and Hermione winced at the cacophony of noises as the girls banged on the keys.

“Ah ah,” Fleur said, trying to catch the little hands and pull them off the piano, “you ‘ave to be gentle.” She smiled as she watched as the girls tried again, gentler this time. 

“Song not pwetty, Maman,” said Athena, brows furrowing after a few minutes of playing with the keys, “you do it.” She said as she pulled her hands back. 

“Yes Maman, you do it!” said Floria, shuffling closer to her maman on the bench. She watched the careful movements of the bigger blonde’s hands.

Hermione watched as Fleur confidently started playing a beautiful melody, while the twins stayed quiet and watched intently. Fleur’s strong forearms were visible from her rolled-up sleeves and Hermione noticed the muscles ripple as the blonde deftly moved her hands and fingers over the ivory keys. She didn’t realise minutes had passed until she was once again thrown into silence. The moment was broken when the twins started clapping.

“Gen! Agen!” said Athena, and Hermione smiled, watching as Fleur indulged the little brunette. Shuffling forward, she sat on the edge of the piano bench with all of them, as it seemed that they would be here for a while, not that she minded. Both the music and the company were beautiful. 

ᴥ

“It’s bedtime now,” said Hermione, depositing the freshly fed, bathed and dressed Floria on the bed, Fleur doing the same to Athena. They had spent all of the afternoon in the Music Room with Fleur spending half of it playing some beautiful music pieces and the other half teaching the girls how to play the instrument with extreme patience. They only left when Isabelle called them for dinner and after that, they all got cleaned up for bed. 

“I not sleepy Mummy,” said Athena and Hermione would have believed that had she not been scratching her bleary eyes while holding her lion plush securely to her chest.

“Mummy, bedtime stowy?” asked Floria as she shuffled into the middle of the bed and wrapped her little arms around her sister and wrapped her little arms around her sister, her eagle plushy squished between them. 

“Bedtime story? Sure. A story about what?” asked Hermione 

“Hogwawts, Mummy’s skool” replied Athena. She had liked it, listening to stories, learning about new things! She liked it even better when it was in her maman and mummy’s voice. 

“Ok sure, let’s all get settled first, alright?” said Hermione as she waited for the girls to burrow into the mattress, cuddled up close and pulled the blankets on top of them. Going to rummage through her bag, she pulled out one of her books and walked back, settling beside the twins. She was just about to crack open the book when a snort made her look up, right into blue eyes full of mirth. Frowning, she asked, “what’s funny?”

“’Ogwarts - A ‘Istory? Really ‘Ermione?” teased Fleur. She knew it was the brunette’s favourite book. She had rarely seen the brunette without it during her short stay at Hogwarts. 

“I’ll have you know it’s a perfectly good book for a bedtime story,” growled Hermione, ready to launch into a tirade when she realised that Fleur was joking with her, “you can leave if you don’t want to listen to it” she shot back, trying to hide the smile in her voice. 

Lifting her arms in surrender, Fleur grinned as she settled beside the girls, ready to listen. No way she was going anywhere, she loved listening to Hermione’s voice. 

Hermione cleared her throat and started, “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a magical school located in Scotland, Great Britain. The Motto ‘ _Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus_ ’ which means ‘Never tickle a sleeping dragon’…”

Fleur snorted again, interrupting the brunette, “Really?! Did they forget that during the Tournament?” 

“Stop interrupting me or I’ll kick you out,” glared Hermione though she realised that Fleur did have a point, “where was I? Yes. The exact location of the school is unknown as it is…”

ᴥ

The next day, the foursome woke up with their usual routine, with the twins startling Fleur out of bed, though unbeknownst to the others, Fleur had gotten used to being woken up like that and she was only acting to get the girls to laugh. If she had to throw herself off the bed every morning for her ladies, she would do it no matter how much she hated waking up in the morning. The day was beautiful, it was sunny, the temperature was not too hot nor too cold so Fleur, as they were having breakfast, decided to ask Minny to pack them their lunch for a picnic. 

“Where are we going?” asked Hermione as she shifted Floria in her arms and followed Fleur, who was carrying Athena and a basket. They had all changed into T-shirts and cargo pants and Hermione was finding it cute how they all to some extent matched. 

“It is a beautiful day and I realised that despite being ‘ere for weeks now, you ‘aven’t seen all of ze grounds,” replied Fleur, walking through the gardens till they reached the outskirts of the woods that surrounded their mansion. Following a trail, she walked into the dense forest.

Hermione followed as she looked around, the forest was beautiful and lush green, tall trees standing proud, the branches and leaves extending to create a canopy high above yet it seemed that each tree didn’t touch, leaving cracks for the blue sky to peek in and the sunlight to stream through. She noticed a few birds flying across the treetops. The forest floor was lush green as well, covered with grass, moss and wildflowers. It was quite a light and airy atmosphere, so much different to the Forbidden Forest she had experienced at Hogwarts. They kept walking for quite some time, the girls asking questions to Fleur about the birds, the trees and flowers they saw on their path. The blonde even stopped for a few seconds, allowing the girls to pick some of the bright flowers. Soon, the trees started to thin out and Hermione was shocked to find herself exiting the forest onto a beautiful white sandy beach with calm azure waters.

“Wow… This is beautiful!” She hadn’t seen a beach like that, so accustomed to the dreary grey beaches of Britain, with the rocky and pebbly shore and rough wavy waters. 

“Mummy, I want down!” said Floria, squirming impatiently. Hermione smiled and set the girl down, only to watch her slip out of her shoes, darting out onto the sand, Athena following her from behind. 

“They are cute,” chuckled Fleur as she picked up the errant shoes, shrunk them and shoved them in her pockets. She slipped out of her own and carried them in her hands, giving an expectant look at Hermione.

“Oh,” Hermione slipped out of her own shoes, feeling a bit weird barefoot.

“It feels better, trust me,” smiled Fleur as she stepped forward onto the sand. 

Hermione followed the woman and realised that it indeed felt amazing. It wasn’t the same as stepping onto the pebbles or even cold coarse sand on the English beaches. The sand here was fine and deliciously warm. She watched as Fleur found them a nice spot sheltered by sand dunes not too far away from the water and spread a blue checkered blanket on the sand before setting her basket down and taking a seat. Slipping next to the woman, she watched as the girls chased each other, kicking sand all over the place. 

“They look well, don’t they? More energetic?” said Fleur, observing the twins.

“Yes, I believe the potion and core-sharing are helping,” replied Hermione, looking at the blonde, “I can’t thank you enough.”

“Please don’t thank me ‘Ermione, they are my children too.”

“I know, I just feel like I need to, since I cannot do anything for them,” murmured Hermione, dropping her gaze to the blanket, finding a loose thread to twirl around with her fingers. She felt the woman shift next to her and saw the strong hands slip into hers, stopping her fidgeting.

“That is absolutely not true. You are doing a lot, just by being ‘ere. The girls missed you so much when you were away. They need you. They wouldn’t be as well without you ‘ere. It would ‘ave taken more and more than I wouldn’t ‘ave been able to provide,” said Fleur, gently squeezing the brunette’s hands as reassurance. 

“Thank you, Fleur,” said Hermione, looking into the sincere blue eyes in front of her, realising that the blonde wasn’t just saying this to make her feel better. “How are you doing?” she asked, changing the subject as she saw the tiredness nestled in the azure orbs.

“I’m good,” replied Fleur, waving away her concern. 

“Please Fleur, I thank you for saying all of this and assuaging my concerns about the girls but I want to do more… and if I cannot do more for the girls, I can do more for you since you are helping them. You being well means they are well,” pleaded Hermione. She meant it, despite the animosity she had felt against the blonde before all this happened. 

Fleur looked at the brunette and sighed. She didn’t want to appear weak in front of her but maybe the Englishwoman was right. The priority was the twins, not her fragile ego. “Ok ‘Ermione. In truth, I feel weak and tired.” Concerned amber eyes kept searching her face.

“Why don’t we enjoy this time with the girls? If you get tired, you tell me and we’ll head back? Later tonight, we can talk about it and I can check you and see if I can find anything that would help you,” suggested Hermione.

Grateful at not having to explain everything right now when all she wanted was to enjoy the moment, Fleur smiled at her and nodded, “Come,” she said as she got up from the blanket, extending a hand to the brunette, “let’s go make sandcastles with them” she said pointing at the girls who were digging into the sand and collecting shells. 

They spent half an hour making sandcastles with the twins and Hermione realising that Fleur had building sandcastles down to an art form. Their castle was getting quite big and detailed, decorated with the shells the girls had found. 

“Come on now girls, let’s wash our hands and ‘ave lunch. I ‘ave a surprise for you after,” said Fleur pulling out her wand and casting Aguamenti to wash the sand residue from her hands. Taking care of the little hands and Hermione’s hands as well, they all settled on the blanket and Fleur rummaged out some sandwiches and juice bottles. Hermione smiled as she took her sandwich, she had started to love the French sandwiches, especially when they were so beautifully made with French baguettes. Oh, she loved the bread, crusty and airy, it wasn’t the same as the one she had in England. Taking a bite, she moaned. It was as delicious as she had come to expect. 

Fleur had to shuffle a bit, the moan sent a shiver down her spine, the emotions of pure joy flitting on Hermione’s face not helping as well. She decided to concentrate on her own sandwich and the mess the twins were making out of their own. 

“This is so good, Fleur. Thank you,” said Hermione, taking another bite of her delicious sandwich.

Fleur smiled, “Thank Minny. I’m happy you are enjoying the French cuisine, ‘Ermione,” taking a napkin, she wiped the smeared sauce off the side of Athena’s cheeks. 

The women finished their sandwiches and helped the girls finish theirs before wiping their wands and cleaning the mess they had left behind. 

“Maman, suwprise now?!” said Athena, climbing into her mother’s lap. She was excited, she even ate the stupid cawwots in her sandwich. 

“Ok baby,” grinned Fleur. Bringing her fingers to her mouth, she let out a loud whistle startling everyone. Hermione looked down the beach, following Fleur’s gaze confused. A few seconds passed as her eyes widened as she saw a Pegasus galloping towards them,, wings tucked in. Fleur’s phoenix Aureus flying above. The Pegasus came to a stop a few metres in front of them, shaking its mane. It was in the colour of champagne and the sun made its coat shine metallic. Aureus screeched before landing on the horse’s back, feathers shimmering as well. 

“Maman, Horsey!” Athena jumped out of Fleur’s lap and started towards the horse. “Birdy!” squealed Floria, following her sister. Hermione was worried the horse was going to buck and kick the twins and started to move towards them.

“Don’t worry, ‘Ermione. Solari is a warhorse, well-trained, she won’t hurt the girls,” said Fleur, reading the expression on the face of the brunette. 

The pair watched as the girls petted the horse’s stomach and wings, who indeed stayed still. Floria was trying to reach over the horse to get a better look at Aureus while Athena curiously shuffled to the front to look at the horse’s face. Reaching out to stroke the mare’s mane, Solari snorted. Athena’s brown eyes widened and she turned to Fleur. “Maman! Horsey did ach-oo!” she said, imitating the sneeze.

Fleur laughed as she picked up her little brunette to bring her face to face with Solari. “No bébé, Solari is just saying ‘ello. She likes you.” Athena grinned and petted the horse’s nose, giggling when it snorted again. “Solawi!” she repeated. 

Hermione had picked up Floria when she saw the little blonde looking at her sister. She brought the little one to pet the horse too. It was fascinating to see her girls experience things, it warmed her heart. 

“And this,” said Fleur as she extended her free arm and pursed her lips, doing a low whistle, “is Aureus.” She finished as the bird flew onto her arm. Bringing the bird closer, she allowed the girls to pet it. “Bonjour Auwus” whispered Floria, eyes wide in amazement as she petted the shiny feathers of the bird and was startled when the bird bumped its head against her hand “Boop boop”. Grinning from ear to ear, she replied “boop boop!” She watched as Aureus did the same to her sister’s hand and squealed. 

“You all want to go on a ride?” asked Fleur, looking at the two girls fondly.

“Oui Maman, please!” shouted both girls, looking at her with pleading puppy eyes. How could she say no to those eyes! _They ‘ave me wrapped around their fingers!_

“Ok, ok,” Fleur put Athena down and allowed Aureus to fly, the phoenix circling them. She went back to their blanket and unshrunk a simple saddle from the picnic basket. Walking back to Solari, she saddled up the horse and vaulted herself effortlessly onto its back. The war horse was properly trained to listen to her signals when she squeezed her legs around the mare’s powerful body so there was no need for bits and reins. The winged horse also responded to her whistles and sound signals. Turning to Hermione, she asked her to pass the kids. Settling both Floria and Athena in front of her. Turning back to Hermione, she extended her hand. 

Looking at the extended hand, Hermione shook her head in alarm, bringing her hands up, “Oh no, there is no need. You guys go ahead!” 

“Come on, ‘Ermione. It is their first ride. You would want to experience it with them!” assured Fleur. 

“Yes Mummy, come on!” pleaded Floria. Athena backed her sister and started begging her mother as well. 

“Ok, ok!” replied Hermione reluctantly. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get on the horse, that thing was high! Taking Fleur’s hand, she was surprised at the strength at which she was hoisted up in front of the woman, Floria and Athena in front of her. Finding herself a bit too high in the air for her liking, she quickly wrapped one arm around the girls. Her free hand gripped the blonde’s thigh tightly. 

Fleur, tried to slow down the thudding in her chest by taking deep breaths. She was enjoying the feeling of Hermione’s hand on her thigh a bit too much. She pulled out her wand and quickly spelled a harness to tie the girls both to her and Hermione. Squeezing her legs, she launched the horse into a trot. After a few minutes, to allow for Hermione to get comfortable, she launched the horse into a gallop along the waterline, sending sprays of seawater each time Solari’s hooves connected to the water, much to the joy of the girls as their squeals could be heard all the way down the beach. The Pegasus started spreading its wings and with one squeeze of her feet, they were launched into the air, powerful wings flapping. Fleur felt Hermione’s hand squeeze her thigh harder and saw her bury her head in Athena’s bushy brown hair. Putting her hand on the hand on her thigh, she drew circles, trying to calm the woman. After a few minutes, she felt Hermione’s hand relax. Taking it into hers and interlacing their fingers, she brought their connected arms up and wrapped them around Hermione’s waist, holding her securely. After a few seconds, she watched as Hermione lifted her head carefully from Athena’s head and a gasp reached her ears.

“It’s beautiful, Fleur” said Hermione as she peeked around carefully. The view was amazing. She could see how far the beach stretched, the azure waters glistening in the sunlight. She could see how big the forest was, the Delacour Mansion and garden within it. She saw a few more structures a bit further away which she didn’t know about. Even further away, she could see the mountains. She spotted Aureus flying beside them. The best part of it was the warmth that spread through her, from the sunlight hitting her body, hearing the joy in the twin’s squeals and seeing their faces lit up with so much happiness… and maybe also from being held like this. It was weird, she was so scared of heights yet right now, wrapped in Fleur’s arms, her back resting against the chest of the blonde, Hermione had never felt so safe in the air. She could feel the heat of the blonde’s cheek as it brushed against hers and for some reason, it made her smile. 

They spent more than one hour in the air before Fleur brought the Pegasus down for a graceful landing. After being helped down by Fleur, Hermione reached to grab the twins who were buzzing with excitement. 

Fleur bent down to roll her pant legs, doing the same for the twins and pulled them along with Solari towards the water. Walking into the surf, she splashed the warm water onto the golden coat of the horse. The twins, watching, followed the actions of their mother. The Pegasus was enjoying the treatment, much to the delight of the little girls. Hermione watched as Fleur ran towards her.

“You coming in?” asked Fleur.

“Uhh…” Hermione wasn’t sure what to say.

Quickly dropping to her knees, Fleur rolled Hermione’s pant legs before getting up and grabbing her hand, pulling her towards the surf, “Come on, the water is nice!” 

Hermione let herself be dragged and again, true to her words, the water was lukewarm and pleasant. The girls quickly surrounded her, wanting her to mimic their action of splashing the Pegasus and Hermione could only indulge their cute faces. It wasn’t meant to stay that way as she watched the twins look at each other and grin. Sometimes she wondered if the twins had some sort of Veela magic or something that allowed them to read each other’s minds or it was just a twin thing like she witnessed with Fred and George. She was brought out of her thoughts when a splash hit her in the face. Spluttering, she watched as the twins teamed up to splash her and Fleur, starting a water fight. 

“Oh no, I’m not getting into this!” said Hermione, backing away to get out of the water. Her hair would get way more frizzy than it usually is if it got wet. She didn’t want to look like a birds nest. 

“Maman! Don’t let Mummy escape!” squealed Athena, trying to catch up with Hermione on her little legs. 

Hermione swivelled, words already at her tongue tip to tell Fleur to stay right where she was when she squeaked as the world shifted around her. Quickly, reaching out to grab onto something, she found her arms wrapped around a pale slender neck. Fleur had lifted her into her arms, the blonde’s cerulean eyes shining with mischief, teeth bared as she grinned from ear to ear. 

“Fleur, put me down this instant!” shrieked Hermione, voice getting more high-pitched as she realised that Fleur was moving deeper into the surf, “Fleur!” 

Grinning, Fleur shrugged. Hermione let out a sigh, thankful that the blonde was listening only to scream as she was tossed into the water. 

Spluttering as she came up, Hermione glared at the laughing blonde and the twins. “Oh now, you are going to get it!” she shouted, throwing herself onto the blonde who, in shock, didn’t manage to dodge. Fleur found her arms full of the brunette before they both went underwater in the shallows. Sitting up, the blonde spluttered, finding herself face to face with a grinning Hermione. Her heart hammered in her chest as she realised how close the woman’s face was to hers. _Beautiful..._ Wet tousled brown hair framed the pale face, droplets of seawater, dripping down her skin and Fleur felt her body heat up. _By the goddesses, she is mesmerising!_

Hermione on her end, wasn’t sure how she had found herself in this position, straddling the blonde. She felt a tightening in her lower abdomen as she looked at the wet blonde in front of her. At least she was wearing a blue shirt but the blonde in front of her was wearing white which left nothing to the imagination. Hermione’s breath hitched as she saw the outlines of the bra the blonde was wearing. _Bloody hell! Are those abs sculpted?!_ Hermione felt her hands itch, she wasn’t sure why. 

Squeals interrupted Fleur's musing and she found herself dunked under the water again with Hermione as the twins jumped onto the brunette’s back. Wrapping her arms around all three, she pushed, sitting back up again, spitting out the salty water in her mouth. The moment broken, the woman shifted their attention on the twins, continuing the water fight until they were all drenched. They only stopped when the twins started getting tired and the sun started to set. With a quick few spells, Hermione dried them all as Fleur rummaged through her basket to pull out some more sandwiches for dinner. Wolfing down their food, they quickly packed up the blanket into the basket. Instead of walking back, Hermione allowed herself back to the Pegasus and soon, they were all back in front of the Mansion. 

“Umm… I'll start a bath for the girls...” said Hermione. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to get into a bath with all four of them right now. She was still feeling the weird feeling in her lower abdomen. 

Hearing the hesitation in the brunette’s voice, Fleur frowned. Had her reactions to being so close to the brunette been visible? “Ok ‘Ermione…” she replied, “Will you need ‘elp? I want to go drop some treats to Aureus and Solari…” She added, to put some space between them.

Sighing in relief, Hermione replied “No, I can handle it, they seem to be knackered so it shouldn’t be a problem” 

“Ok then. I’ll be back later…” Fleur replied. Giving a curt nod, she exited the room and made her way to the kitchen to grab some apples for Solari and some scraps of meat for Aureus. 

ᴥ

When Fleur returned to the room, the twins were already asleep while Hermione was nose-deep in a book, a tableside lamp providing enough light for her to read. She quickly showered and slipped into some shorts and a loose shirt before slipping onto her side of the bed. 

“How were Solari and Aureus?” Hermione asked, bringing down her book onto her stomach.

“I got them their treats. Aureus is probably hunting in the woods right now while Solari is grazing somewhere,” replied Fleur pulling the blankets on top of her legs. 

  
  


“I’m curious,” started Hermione and Fleur chuckled. When was this woman not curious? Giving Fleur a mock glare, Hermione continued, “I’ve never seen a phoenix of that colour. How did you find it?” 

“Aureus is a weird colour for a phoenix” Fleur started, “we believe she might be a cross between a phoenix and a thunderbird though I’m not sure how that works. The theory doesn’t only come from her colour but the fact that she makes this buzzing noise… like a current. I was just a bébé when we found her. My mother took me out for a picnic in the gardens on a nice sunny day and put me down on the blanket she ‘ad spread on the floor. She said that as I was gazing into ze sky, I suddenly got excited and started clapping my hands. Next thing she knows, there is this small golden bird doing pirouettes over me, while I cheered. After some time, I started feeling sleepy and was dozing off. Maman said the bird landed next to me and fell asleep against my cheek. When she tried to take me back to the house, the bird followed. I woke up as she was carrying me back home on her shoulder and clapped my hands again, reaching out for the bird,” Fleur smiled as she remembered her mother telling her the story, “and I said my first word. We ‘ave been together since.”

“And what was your first word?”

Fleur flushed and said “Bzzzz”.

Hermione laughed, unable to contain her amusement at the image in her head, “that’s not even a word!” 

Fleur shrugged, joining in on the laughter. The awkwardness from earlier totally dissipated. 

“What about Solari?” asked Hermione, “she is of an unusual colour as well, Pegasus tend to be white.”

“True. Our Veela Clan ‘as a herd of Pegasus trained for combat and Solari is part of that. Usually, Pegasus are born at midnight, under ze moon but Solari was an anomaly, born at midday when ze sun was at its highest. We believe that is why she is sunlight blonde.

“Wow. Seems there are a lot of anomalies happening,” observed Hermione, now curious if it was something in the environment here that was causing all that. 

Shrugging, the Veela added, “I don’t believe it is that weird. It ‘appens with every species”

“You seem to have a way with animals,” replied the brunette.

“I am Veela,” Fleur stated, as if it was obvious, “we are creatures and ‘ave a way with creatures. Birds, pegasus, centaurs, dragons, we know ‘ow to communicate.”

“Oh that reminds me of the dragon at the Triwizard! It definitely gave you more trouble than the others,” winced Hermione, remembering how hard the two had battled in the arena. 

“Dragons are proud creatures and more so to a Veela. We ‘ave ‘istory, ‘aving battled side by side for centuries. There is mutual respect between the two. As such, when we meet, we ‘ave to show that we are strong enough to protect each other. Thus the battle,” explained Fleur, “it doesn’t matter who wins, as long as we show the strength to fight.”

“Oh…” Hermione was amazed, she would have never known these things if Fleur didn’t share such Veela secrets with her, “you did win though.”

“I ‘ad to,” replied Fleur, “because of the egg. Kratox is in the mountains now, together with the other dragons.”

“Kratox?”

“Yes, the dragon I battled. As I said, we fought and we formed a bond. Imagine my surprise when he said he wanted to come along with me! Grand-mère organised it all and now, he lives with the other dragons that protect the Clan in the mountains close by.” Fleur chuckled, that dragon was a character! His jokes were the best. 

“He said?” repeated Hermione, blinking in confusion. What did that even mean?

“Oh yeah, we creatures know ‘ow to communicate. Well, he told me.”

“God! You are all so interesting. The more I hear, the more I want to find out and learn!” huffed Hermione in annoyance. Here was so much more interesting than Britain. She wondered if the Delacours would mind having her here for like… forever? There was so much to learn and explore!

Fleur laughed, marvelling at how easily she was conversing with the woman. _Maybe we could be friends._

ᴥ

The next morning, Fleur woke up to some whispering by her side. She wondered why the girls hadn’t jumped her yet. Opening one eye just a bit to peek, she noticed that Hermione was awake and silently observing the girls. Looking at the twins, she found both girls on their knees. With Athena peering up into the wide open mouth of squirming Floria, who had her head thrown back.

“Hold still Ria, I cannot see!” whispered Athena.

Floria grumbled, shifting a bit before opening her mouth again so Athena could take another peek.

Fleur watched as Athena’s chubby hands reached inside her sister’s mouth, grabbed something and pulled.

“Owie!” shouted Floria, bringing her hands to cover her mouth.

“I gots it!” said Athena proudly, hand curled into a tight chubby fist.

Fleur realised that both she and Hermione had sat up at the sound of Floria in pain.

“Athena! What are you doing? Are you ok, Floria?” asked Hermione, trying to pry the girl’s hand away from her mouth to have a look.

“Ria lost tooth!” said Athena, opening her fist to reveal a shiny white canine.

Hermione looked at it concerned, “You are not supposed to be losing teeth at this age. Does it still hurt, baby? Are you bleeding?”

At the sound of worried Hermione’s voice, Athena’s face fell and she looked at her sister sympathetically, “Sowwy, Ria,” brown eyes tearing up at the thought of having hurt her sister.

Floria quickly shook her head, bringing her hands down, “It didn’t hurt, Thena” She showed her sister an enormous bright smile, showing all her teeth with just one hole. Her tongue came out to poke into the hole where the shiny tooth used to live, feeling around the empty spot. 

Athena giggled, presenting the white tooth in her hand back to her sister, “You gotta put it under pillow for tooth faiwy!” she said as she handed Floria the tooth. She watched as the blonde slipped it under the fluffy pillow, patting it down. 

“Alright you all, let’s go wash our faces before going down for breakfast,” instructed Fleur, watching the twins scrabble off the bed into the bathroom. 

“Why is she losing her teeth at three, Fleur?” asked Hermione as she made to follow the girls. 

“I’m not sure Hermione. I will ‘ave to ask Maman but don’t worry, ok. It’s just a tooth,” replied Fleur, hoping to reassure the brunette.

At breakfast, Hermione’s fears were assuaged when Apolline told her that there are cases in Veela children when they lose one or two of their teeth a bit earlier than usual and that there was no need to worry about it. 

“Grand-mère, the tooth faiwy will come?” asked Floria excitedly as she used her little fork to spear a piece of the pancake that her mummy had cut for her. 

“Sure darling.” Apolline smiled at the girls’ excitement.

“We see her?” asked Athena, buzzing at the chance to see what the tooth fairy looked like. 

“Ah, she only comes when you are both asleep,” said Armand, grinning.

“But I wanna see!” whined Athena.

“I wanna see too. I don’t want to go to thleep!” added Floria. Hermione chuckled, those ‘s’ words were going to be difficult for a while.

“Sleep?” said Athena, cocking her head to the side, not sure she heard her sister correctly.

“Thleep,” repeated Floria, again poking her tongue into the hole where her tooth used to be, realising that her usual words weren’t coming out right.

“Sheep?” giggled Athena.

“Theep!” repeated Floria, growling when it didn’t come out right. 

“Stop teasing your sister, Athena,” Hermione gently chided, trying to sound serious but was having a hard time hiding the grin that was threatening to erupt on her face. 

“Sowwy Ria,” the little brunette said, leaning sideways to deposit a kiss on her twin’s cheek. 

“Mon Dieu, they are the cutest,” grinned Apolline, hand on her heart. She felt like the organ would burst with cuteness overload, “only you two would make the cutest bébés!”

“Maman!” Fleur called out, aghast.

“Stop teasing your child, Apolline” Isabelle chided, copying Hermione. 

Armand just burst out laughing. Never a dull day at his house.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a review/comment to let me know your thoughts about the story, I'd really appreciate it! ~ Sky


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